A wall mounted ceramic slab in by Miyashita Zenji mounted on a wooden frame reminiscent of a Japanese misty mountain-scape signed at the bottom right. The slab is 23 x 19.5 cm (8-1/4 x -3/4 inches), the frame is 36 x 32.7 cm (14-1/4 x 13 inches) and is in perfect condition, enclosed in a cloth bound box titled Saidei Toban, Haruka.
Miyashita Zenji (1939-2012) was born into the family of potter Miyashita Zenju, and graduated the Kyoto Municipal University of Art under Kiyomizu Kyubei and Kusube Yaichi. Starting with the most difficult, he worked from Celadon, which relies on shape and extreme control of firing. He began exhibiting in the annual Nitten exhibitions in 1964, eventually winning eighteen prizes. According to the Sackler, which holds 6 works by him, “ His mature work was a modern embodiment of a classic Kyoto mode associated with the Heian period (794–1185). He applied delicate layers of color—reminiscent of multilayered court robes or decorated papers made for inscribing poetry—using not over-glaze enamels or glazes but clay itself, dyed with mineral pigments”. He is held in the aforementioned Freer-Sackler, the British Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, and the Brooklyn Museum the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Museum of Fine Arts Hou.
