Ceramic vase with floral decoration by Teraike Shizuto 寺池静人

Japan, Kyoto, second half of the 20th century.

Provenance: Private Japanese collection. Purchased at an exhibition at Takashimaya in 1991.

Large ovoid vase in light-colored ceramic, with a wide body and a short, narrow neck. The decoration unfolds over the entire surface in an enveloping vegetal composition. The foliage, a very dark green that is almost black in places, is combined with an engraved decoration that animates the ceramic's surface without breaking the unity of the volume. At the base, the flowers are rendered in high relief, like presences molded into the material. Grey and silver inlays punctuate the surface and introduce colder, luminous passages that contrast with the soft cream background.

The vase's appeal lies in this combination of calm volume and highly detailed surface. Teraike Shizuto does not treat the floral motif as a simple applied ornamentation. The leaves, the relief flowers, the incisions, and the inlays contribute to the very construction of the piece. The decoration wraps around the body, follows its curve, and gives the vase a dense presence, both vegetal and almost mineral.

Born in Kyoto in 1933, Teraike Shizuto is the eldest son of a family of potters. He graduated in 1951 from the sculpture department of Kyoto Municipal Hiyoshigaoka High School, formerly the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts. In 1953, he joined the Seiryōkai association and trained under Kusube Yaichi, a major figure in modern Kyoto ceramics. In the same year, he received an award at the Kyoto Kōgei Bijutsu-ten exhibition for a piece entitled Kuroyū kaki, a black-glazed vase.

His career quickly became established in major Japanese exhibitions. In 1955, he was selected for the first time at the Nitten with a piece entitled Shōwa-bin / Suimen, and was subsequently admitted multiple times. He received the Mayor's Prize at the Kyōten exhibition in 1959 for Kaki, and then prizes at the Bijutsu-ten and the Gendai Kōgei Bijutsu-ten in the 1960s. He also exhibited abroad, notably at the International Exhibition of Contemporary Ceramics in 1964. In 1974, he participated with his father in an exhibition at the Takashimaya Art Gallery in Osaka, then held solo exhibitions in Tokyo and at Takashimaya. He was recommended as a member of the Nitten in 1982, then appointed a member of the Nitten in 1990. His activity is also linked to the Nihon Shinkōgeika Renmei, of which he became a director, as well as the International Academy of Ceramics.

This work fully belongs to his period of maturity. It shows a highly constructed Kyoto ceramic, where the tradition of the floral vase is shifted towards a search for surface, relief, and inlay. The Japanese provenance and the purchase at an exhibition at Takashimaya in 1991 place the object in an important dissemination context, within a recognized exhibition circuit for art ceramics in Japan.

The vase is preserved in its original tomobako.

Dimensions: height 36 cm; diameter 23 cm.