A matched pair of porcelain sake flasks by Living National Treasure Tokuda Yasokichi III (Masahiko), enclosed together in their original signed wooden box titled Saiyu Tokkuri. Each pear-shaped flask rises from a full rounded body to a slender neck and gently flared mouth, its simple form serving as a canvas for Tokuda's celebrated saiyū glaze. A luminous turquoise-green band appears across the shoulders, edged in deep blue before dissolving into a rich aubergine-purple that envelops the neck and lower body. The transitions are deliberately soft and atmospheric, with darker glaze descending into the turquoise in fine, flame-like tendrils, creating the impression that the brilliant color is glowing from beneath the surface. Although closely matched, subtle differences in the movement of the glaze give each flask its own character. Each measures 9 cm (3-1/2 inches) in diameter and 13 cm (5-1/8 inches) tall and is in perfect condition.
Tokuda Yasokichi III (Masahiko, 1933-2009) was born the first son of Tokuda Yasokichi II who had been adopted as a teenager into the Tokuda family. Masahiko graduated from the Kanazawa school of arts, and took up apprenticeship under his grandfather and father Yasokichi I & II. Well versed in orthodox Kutani design, he broke with tradition developing his own unique style titled Saiyu in the 1970s. By broadening his spectrum with this new style of Kutani ware he garnered considerable attention. In 1986, he was named a Bearer of Important Intangible Cultural Assets by Ishikawa Prefecture (local version of Living National Treasure) and a decade later was designated Living National Treasure in 1997 for his supremacy in the use of Kutani glazes. Yasokichi III, His works are held by the Polk Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art New York, The British Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum, the Smithsonian, the Indianapolis Museum of Art and Kanazawa Contemporary Museum of Art among many others.
