A scene of night time cormorant fishing by Domoto Insho in gold on age tarnished silver decorates this elegant porcelain bowl by Daimaru Hokuho (Hoppo) enclosed in the original signed wooden box dated the Spring of Taisho 10 (1921). It is 18 cm (7 inches) diameter, 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) tall and in excellent condition.
Daimaru Hokuho (also called Hoppo, 1879-1959 ) would have been rated in the top 10 porcelain artist of Kyoto, along with Suwa Sozan, Ito Suiko, Ito Tozan, Miyanaga Tozan, Takahashi Dohachi, Seifu Yohei, Kiyomizu Rokubei, Miura Chikusen and Kiyomizu Zoroku, all artists active from the Meiji through the early Showa eras. He is best remembered for his Chinese forms and Sencha thin tea ware. Born in Ishikawa in 1879, he was initially trained in ceramic painting by Seishichi Okura at the Kutani Ceramic Company of the Kutani tradition before moving to Kyoto in 1899 to study porcelain throwing and decoration there. In 1906, he was invited to teach at the Hunan Ceramics Department in Hunan Province, China, and devoted himself to research on Chinese ceramics, returning to Japan where he took up residence again in Kyoto in 1909 and began making ceramics, mainly tea utensils and sencha utensils. He exhibited many works at exhibitions, receiving numerous accolades, and his works were purchased by the Imperial Household Agency. Daimaru Hokuho II (Tatsuo, b. 1926) studied under both his father as well as both Kiyomizu Rokubei V and VI. He exhibited frequently with the Nitten National Exhibition, where he would serve as a judge.
Domoto Insho (1891-1975) was born in Kyoto. He studied at the Kyoto Municipal School of Painting under the tutelage of Nishiyama Suisho and graduated in 1921. He contributed regularly to the Nitten and Teiten national exhibitions and won several prizes, including the Imperial Fine Arts Academy prize in 1925. After the end of the Pacific War his reputation spread to an international audience with exhibitions in Italy, France and the USA. In 1961 he was awarded The Order for Cultural Merit. He worked not only in the various manners of Japanese painting, but also oil, industrial art and printmaking. For more on this great artist visit the Kyoto prefectural Domoto Insho Museum. His work is also held by numerous temples in Japan, The Kyoto City Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art and in the Boston Museum of Fine Art.
