Tomobako (original signed wooden storage box)
Showa period
D 21.5 cm H 8 cm
This work was created using the neriage technique, in which differently colored clays are skillfully kneaded together to produce soft yet intricate patterns.
The design emerges through the layering, slicing, and forming of multiple strata of colored clay. Rather than being painted onto the surface, the pattern reveals itself from within the body of the clay, embodying a distinctive beauty where chance and intention intersect.
Kanjiro KAWAI（河井寛次郎）
1890 - 1966
Kanjirou Kawai was a Kyoto-based potter within the folk tradition of Japanese and Korean ceramics and a key figure in Mingei (Japanese folk art movement). He was a long-time friend of Shōji Hamada, Soetsu Yanagi, and Bernard Leach with whom he co-founded the Japan Folk Art Association in 1926. He refused all official honors, such as the designation of “Living National Treasures,” He often decorated his works with bold, semiabstract blossom motifs, which he painted freely in under-glaze cobalt blue, iron brown, and copper red.
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