▲Using the “uchikake” technique, green, red, and black glazes are applied with confident, sweeping strokes.
▲It is inscribed with the words “Three-Color Flat Vase” and “Kan” by Kanjiro Kawai.
Original Wooden Box
D19.5cm×16.5cm H20cm
This is a tri-colored flattened vase (San-shoku Henko) by Kanjiro Kawai, a master who spearheaded the Japanese Mingei (Folk Art) movement.
The absolute highlight of this piece is the bold application of the "uchikake" (splashed glaze) technique. Against a creamy white ground, glazes in green, red, and black are splashed with unwavering confidence, creating a dynamic arrangement of colors. These are not merely decorative patterns; they pulse with vitality, as if Kawai’s own breath has taken physical form.
The silhouette is striking—powerful, yet possessing a certain characteristic charm. With its sturdy, four-legged stance and boldly faceted form, the piece exudes a profound and heavy presence.
A work of the same form is featured in the renowned publication "Kanjiro no Uchu" (The Universe of Kanjiro).
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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