An elegant octagonal dish by Living National Treasure Kato Takuo, enclosed in its original signed wooden box titled Aisai Chōkamon Hakkaku-bachi. The low, crisply articulated eight-sided form is covered in a softly crackled ivory glaze, across which deep cobalt blue flows freely over the raised walls and rim, pooling and trailing in a manner reminiscent of Kato's celebrated Sansai work. Small applied floral motifs (chōka) punctuate the sides in amber and green, while the broad central well is washed in a delicate pale blue-green glaze. Within it, overlapping stylized flowers appear almost submerged beneath the glaze, their incised and impressed outlines emerging quietly as the light moves across the surface. The contrast between the disciplined geometry of the octagonal form and the fluidity of the running blue glaze gives the vessel particular vitality. Kato's mark appears within the recessed unglazed base. It measures 22 cm (8-5/8 inches) across and 5.5 cm (2-1/8 inches) tall and is in excellent condition.
Kato Takuo (1917-2005), I am sure, requires no introduction. He was born in Tajimi, center of the Mino ceramic tradition the son of Kato Kobei. Trained in ceramics at the Tajimi Technical School as well as under his father. He entered military service in 1938, and served until wars end. He then contracted leukemia, and spent another ten years fighting for his life. He debuted at the Nitten National Exhibition in 1956, and was soon accepted and consistently displayed at any number of National and International Exhibitions. In 1980 he was commissioned by the Imperial Household Agency to produce a restoration of the Shosoin Three Color Glaze. In 1991 he received the JCS (Japan Ceramic Society) prize, one of the most important honors for a potter. He was named a Living National Treasure in 1995 for his work in Sansai glazes.
