Early 21st Century Japanese Contemporary Ceramic Sculptural Slab Yoshikawa Masamichi

A richly glazed ceramic sculptural slab in the shape of a centerpiece plate by Japanese ceramic artist Yoshikawa Masamichi (1946-). The highly abstract piece was hand built with intentional irregularity and covered with a thick bluish-green Seihakuji glaze and deposits into a deeper celadon green along the edges. The glaze that the artist applied invokes a sense of purity that one found in the celadon from Chinese Song Dynasty and Korean Joseon period. The solid piece is very heavy, and it was carved into geometrical compartments with sharp lines in the center while the surface of the borders shows a chiseled texture. Under the piece, there are foot supports of various sizes and shapes and also an elaborate under the glaze design drawing as shown.
An unconventional piece that is hard to define. It comes with a wood tomobako box with inscription under the lid that shows the title, artist’s signature and seal.
Born in Kanagawa Prefecture near Tokyo and based in Tokoname, Yoshikawa creates ceramic with seihakuji glaze in his signature style that is difference from the more delicate works by other seihakuji artists such as Fukami Sueharu and Yagi Akira. His glaze is thick with pooling and dripping and his form more abstract and robust.