This vase by Kawai Tōru (河井透) boldly captures the powerful silhouettes of archaic Japanese ceramics, reminiscent of Jōmon period jars with its globular body and wide-open neck. The slightly raised decoration, punctuated by diamond-shaped patterns, captures a deep blue glaze where brown and silver shades emerge. The drips and contrasting brightness create an almost metallic depth that magnifies the play of shadows.

Born in 1941 in Kyoto, Kawai Tōru is the eldest son of the potter Kawai Kyōbu and the great-nephew of the great master Kawai Kanjiro, a major figure in the Mingei movement. Introduced to ceramics at a very early age in the family workshop, he learned from his father and great-uncle, whose humanist aesthetic he continued while asserting his personal research. From the 1970s, he participated in the father-son exhibition at the Fukuyama Museum and then organized regular exhibitions in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, and Takamatsu, as well as in the United States. His work is now represented in several public collections, notably at the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art and the Shiga Ceramic Art Museum, which hold pieces emblematic of his research on glazes and archaic forms.

This vase, accompanied by its signed and inscribed tomobako, illustrates Kawai Tōru's mastery in the art of uniting tradition and modernity.

Dimensions: height 31.5 cm, width 21.5 cm.