This porcelain bowl, of rare elegance, perfectly embodies Shigekazu Nagae's sculptural and poetic style. The piece is distinguished by its undulating, almost floating shape, like a veil frozen in movement. Although supple in appearance, the porcelain seems to have delicately settled on three "stones" that support its weight: these are in fact ceramic elements, shaped to imitate blocks of stone, and covered with a subtly textured matte gilding. This contrast between the raw appearance of the "stones" and the finesse of the porcelain creates a remarkable visual and tactile tension.

This work illustrates Nagae's work of deconstruction and suspension, which diverts industrial casting processes to create unique forms, both organic and abstract. Each element is reflected as a line of tension, a continuous surface, a fold of light.

The artist uses the slip casting technique, generally reserved for mass-produced porcelain, to explore the singularity of the gesture. The pieces are cast, dried, then suspended in the kiln by rigid iron wires. It is in this suspension and under the effect of firing that these fragile and free forms are born. The elements are then assembled by a vitrified glaze that binds the whole with discretion and precision.

Shigekazu Nagae, born in 1953 in Seto to a family of ceramicists, is considered one of the contemporary masters of Japanese porcelain. A graduate of the Seto Industrial Ceramics School in 1974, he began exhibiting in the late 1970s. He established himself as a pioneer of sculptural porcelain in Japan, and his work is praised for its technical refinement and constant exploration of lightness and movement.

His most recent series, titled Moving Forms, pushes the physical limits of porcelain even further, evoking the curves of Japanese nature—rivers, hills, gusts of wind—while maintaining a pure abstraction. His work has received numerous awards, including the Grand Prix at the Nyon Porcelain Triennial in 1998, as well as the Mino Ceramics Festival and the Japanese Ceramic Art Exhibition in 1997.

Nagae's works are now held in numerous public collections around the world, including the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Musée National de Céramique in Sèvres, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Cernuschi Museum in Paris, the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, and the Museum of Modern Ceramic Art in Gifu.

Dimensions: 30.5 x 5.5 cm