A set of five plates by the 13th generation Yokoishi Gagyu, mastert of the Utsutsukawa tradition enclosed, in the original signed and tiered wooden box titled Utsutsukawa Unkaku-mon Sumikiri-sara. They are 15 x 17 x 2.8 cm (6 x 6-3/4 x 1 inches) and are in excellent condition.
Yokoishi Gagyu XIII (b. 1935) had his first exhibited piece at the age of 20 in 1955 take the governors prize at the Nagasaki Kenten Prefectural Art Exhibition. That was the beginning of a prestigious career prolific with awards culminating in being named an important cultural property for Nagasaki prefecture in 1975 (the state version of a living national treasure) he has also displayed with the Nihon Dento Kogeiten (National Traditional Crafts Exhibition) among many others, and has an impressive number of private exhibitions. He is credited with reviving the lost art of Utsutsukawa-yaki, and is a very important figure in modern Arita.
