Oxblood glazed porcelain vase, Maeda Yasuaki, Japan, Arita (Saga), late 1980s

This spherical vase with a narrow neck demonstrates Maeda Yasuaki's technical virtuosity in the demanding art of oxblood glazing. Deep in color, oscillating between purple, violet, and carmine red highlights, the surface reveals a highly subtle enameling work, where the flows of the enamel create a fluid spiral, punctuated by crystalline effects reminiscent of the robin's egg glazes of ancient Chinese porcelain.

The thickness of the material, its brilliance, and the density of the micro-effects testify to a controlled high-temperature firing, where the apparent randomness is in reality the fruit of precise ceramic science. The fine, dense porcelain retains a discreet presence beneath the glaze, which Maeda uses here as a moving pictorial space. The vase is hand-signed, incised into the clay before firing, and comes with its original box and the Japanese exhibition label confirming that the artist selected it for display at an exhibition.

With its brilliance and chromatic complexity, this vase can be presented as a stand-alone decorative piece or serve as the basis for a refined floral arrangement. It embodies a rare fusion of Chinese technical tradition and contemporary Japanese sensibility.

About Maeda Yasuaki (前田泰昭, born 1937)

Born in Arita, the cradle of Japanese porcelain, Maeda Yasuaki founded his own kiln, Taimei-gama, at the age of 36. In the 1970s, he established himself as one of the contemporary masters of red glaze, an extremely delicate field where minute variations in temperature and atmosphere radically alter the result.

A two-time Tokusen award winner at the Nitten National Exhibition, he became a major figure in contemporary Japanese ceramics, as an artist, teacher, and organizer, serving as vice-president and later advisor to the Saga Arts Federation. He was also one of the few Japanese potters to have been featured in the British Museum's group exhibition “Saga: Contemporary Ceramics from the Home of Japanese Porcelain” (2000–2001), which was praised for its showcase of the great masters of Arita glaze.

Maeda draws inspiration from the great Chinese traditions of the Ming and Qing periods—oxblood, flambé, robin's egg—but reinterprets them with a freer sense of color and a resolutely Japanese artistic approach. This vase, with its technical mastery, brilliance, and the depth of its reflections, perfectly illustrates this synthesis. A mature work by an artist whose every firing is an absolute commitment to material and fire.

H. 29 cm – Diam. 25 cm

Glazed porcelain, signed intaglio, original tomobako, wooden exhibition label.