Tenmoku Chawan Tea Bowl ー谷口 良三 "我天目 茶盌"

A beautifully formed Tenmoku-shaped chawan by Taniguchi Ryozo enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Hana Tenmoku Chawan.  Namako blue seems to blossom in clusters on the mottled black brown iron surface. It is 13.4 cm (5-1/4 inches) diameter, 8cm (just over 3 inches) tall and is in perfect condition.

Ryozo (1926-1996) studied initially under Kiyomizu Rokubei VI.  He was first accepted into the Japan Academy of Arts exhibition in 1948, and subsequently into the Nitten National exhibition in 1951 and exhibited there often after, receiving many prizes including the Hokuto-sho, Prime Ministers Prize and Kiku-ka-sho as well as serving as a jury member.  In 1956 he was awarded at the Modern Ceramic Art Exhibition, and five years later was recipient of the prestigious Japan Ceramics Society (JCS) Award (1961).  Showing his prowess he was invited to exhibit at the National Museum of Modern Art Tokyo in 1964, and was invited to serve as a juror for the Kyoten that same year.  From then his list of exhibitions and prizes is impressive and much too long to list in this add.  He has also exhibited with the Modern Japanese Ceramics Exhibition as well as being awarded at the Modern Japanese Crafts Exhibition and the Kofukai, where he was awarded the Kofukai Members Prize (participating there from 1960).  From the 1970s, other international and domestic exhibitions as well as a slew of private exhibitions at Japans top galleries.  Works by the artist are held in the MOMAT, In 1989 he received the Kyoto Cultural award for his life works in the ceramics field.