Light silver beads cling to the dark patches of glaze on this elongated porcelain box by Kondo Takahiro enclosed in the original signed wooden box titled Jigen Tobako dating circa 2000. It is 33 x 12 x 10.5 cm (13 x 5 x 4 inches) and is in perfect condition, retaining the original custom sewn cloth pouch.
Kondo Takahiro (b. 1958) was born the grandson of Living National Treasure Kondo Yuzo. However, he graduated Hosei University not with a degree in sculpture or crafts, but in Literature. From there he studied at the Kyoto Prefectural Technical Institute of Ceramics, followed by a year at the Kyoto Municipal Institute of Industrial Research. 15 years later he would spend a year in Edinburgh studying glass making, and with this combination of skills, was born the silver mist series for which he is so highly acclaimed. Water in all its forms—mist, waves, ice, rain—serves as a central thematic motif in his oeuvre. Work by him is held in Museums throughout the world, including the National Museum of Scotland, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Museum of Arts & Design, New York, Spencer Museum of Art, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Art Gallery NSW, Sydney, Hamilton Art Gallery, Australia, Miho Museum. National Gallery of Victoria, Paramita Museum, The Museum of Contemporary Ceramic Art, Shigaraki, and The São Paulo Museum of Art, Brazil among others. Without a doubt one of the most important contemporary artists in Japan today. For more see Celestial Ceramics: The Art of Kondo Takahiro (2002).
