Speckled black rises from the rich red orange Kaki colors of this Tsubo by Ningen Kokuho Shimizu Uichi enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Tetsu-yu Kabn. The vases simple rounded form provides a remarkably effective ground for the movement and transformation of the glaze. The body swells generously from a narrow base before turning inward toward a small, crisply defined mouth, giving the vessel a compact and almost elemental presence. Across this restrained form, however, the surface is extraordinarily active. The lower body is enveloped in warm tones ranging from russet and burnt orange to deep persimmon red, while the shoulder darkens abruptly into a lustrous iron black. Rather than meeting along a fixed boundary, the two fields intermingle: black descends into the red in scattered flecks and branching marks, while innumerable ochre and golden specks appear suspended within the dark glaze above. Around the mouth these markings become particularly dense, breaking the glossy black surface into an intricate constellation of irregular spots. Seen closely, what initially appears to be a simple division between red and black becomes considerably more complex. Colors bleed into one another, tiny eruptions interrupt the surface, and fine dark markings drift through the russet glaze. Lower on the body, a wandering grey-black line traces an irregular course through the red, an incidental firing effect that introduces an almost landscape-like element into an otherwise abstract surface. The work demonstrates the remarkable breadth contained within Shimizu's deceptively simple term tetsuyū, or iron glaze. Here iron does not produce a single color but a spectrum extending from brilliant orange-red through ochre and brown to an almost absolute black. Shimizu allows these colors to separate, overlap and transform in the kiln, making the firing itself visible across the surface of the vessel. The disciplined simplicity of the form serves as a counterpoint to this activity: the pot remains calm while its skin records the volatility of fire. It is 20.5 cm (8 inches) diameter, 23 cm (9 inches) tall and in excellent condition. A former owner has written M-5 on the signed box lid.
Shimizu Uichi (1926-2004) was born in Kyoto the son of a ceramic dealer. Discarding the family business, he apprenticed in plastic arts under future Living National Treasure Ishiguro Munemaro. His work retains some principal elements of his teachers style while incorporating an understated elegance and avant-garde spirit of challenge uncommon for his time. He was first exhibited at the Nitten in 1951, receiving numerous awards there since. He also took the gold medal at the Prague International Exhibition, and was at the Brussels World Exposition. He is in the collection of the Tokyo National Museum, Kyoto Museum of Modern art, Clark Center and the Freer Gallery among many others.
