With original wooden box
Shōwa period
Designated Living National Treasure
Diameter: 52.5 cm / Height: 6.5 cm
This monumental plate was crafted by Kōsei Matsui (1927–2003), a Living National Treasure celebrated for his mastery of nerikomi (inlaid colored clay technique). Nerikomi involves layering and shaping multiple colored clays to create intricate patterns—requiring both technical expertise and artistic sensitivity, of which Matsui was a master. The gradation of blue, ranging from deep to pale tones, subtly shifts with changes in light and angle. The artist himself inscribed the title “Jōkai” (Pure Realm), a Buddhist term referring to a purified, desire-free state of being, or a world untainted by worldly desires.
MATSUI Kōsei 松井康成
1927-2003
Designated as a Living National Treasure in 1993, Matsui Kōsei was hugely influential in the revival of neriage (marbleized, colored-clay ware that he perfected, studying numerous examples of ancient Chinese ceramics as a priest at Gessō-ji Temple in Kasama, Ibaraki Prefecture. Matsui far surpassed these historic predecessors by creating abstract and geometric surface patterning by applying to the surface or throwing numerous layered colored clays, often with a rough-hewn texture. His research and intense studies in this difficult technique, culminated in worldwide recognition for his tradition-steeped vessels.
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