Please note: To bypass international transportation obstacles caused by the situation in the Middle East as well as the new policy in EU, this item is shipped via DHL. This premium service ensures reliable, timely delivery, though it results in a higher shipping rate. – A hand-built sculptural ceramic by the contemporary Japanese studio ceramicist Kobayashi Masami (小林政美) – Block-form silhouette: a slab-built architectural body with matte charcoal-black ashen upper register and pale blue-grey vitreous drift across the lower portion – Incised linear drawing and small decorative piercings across the surface, giving the piece the character of an object caught between sculpture and vessel This piece does not come with its original signed wooden box, but it was personally selected directly from a gallery where the artist, Kobayashi Masami, brings his works himself. Summary: A hand-built sculptural ceramic vessel by the contemporary Japanese studio ceramicist Kobayashi Masami, executed in a distinctive slab-built block form that reads simultaneously as a functional flower vessel and as an architectural sculpture. The surface is worked in two clearly differentiated registers: a matte, ash-like charcoal upper portion carrying the dry vitality of a wood-fired stoneware ground, and a paler blue-grey vitreous drift across the lower body that reads like sea mist rising into stormy cloud. Incised linear drawing runs across the surface, and small piercings punctuate the body – both decorative and functional. A characterful piece for European collectors of contemporary Japanese studio ceramics drawn to the meeting of sculpture and vessel. Kobayashi Masami works within the wider tradition of contemporary Japanese studio pottery, in which the historical vocabulary of Japanese ceramics – yakishime stoneware, ash glazes, hand-forming, considered surface treatment – is opened up into more sculptural and painterly registers. Where classical Bizen or Shigaraki pieces adhere to broadly conventional vessel silhouettes, contemporary makers like Kobayashi work more freely, treating the clay body as sculptural medium and the glaze surface as painterly ground. The form here is decisively architectural. Slab-built rather than thrown, the body has been constructed as a low, elongated block with strong horizontal proportions – a shape that reads more like a piece of landscape or a segment of wall than a conventional vase. Small piercings run along one side, breaking the mass and giving the piece a sense of interior light; incised linear drawing – reminiscent of ink-brush shorthand for grass, water, or reed – moves across the surface like an artist's quick gestural notation. The colour treatment is the heart of the piece. The upper portion carries the dry, matte, faintly powdered surface of a wood-fired ash body – charcoal-black graduating into softer greys as the light catches it. Across the lower portion, a paler blue-grey vitreous glaze has been applied and allowed to drift, its edges soft and irregular where the two surfaces meet. The effect suggests weather across landscape: dark cloud above, cooler mist below, the horizon caught between them. In a European interior, the piece works beautifully as a display object on a low console or side table, as an ikebana vessel (the interior form suitable for one or a few dramatic seasonal stems), or as a purely sculptural presence in a minimalist room. It pairs naturally with dark wood, with stone surfaces, and with pared-back contemporary furniture where its considered proportions can be felt without competition. Condition appears good overall, consistent with a piece of this character. The incised marks, the piercings, and the drift-glaze passages are intrinsic to the maker's design and are not damage or fault. Careful review is encouraged. A quietly powerful piece of contemporary Japanese studio ceramics at the meeting point of vessel and sculpture. Shipping & Handling Shipping for this item may take approximately 7–10 days. I have confirmed this with Catawiki and obtained their approval. We ship worldwide via DHL or EMS with full insurance and tracking. Professional packing ensures safe arrival; combined shipping available for multiple wins. Local customs duties are the buyer's responsibility. Seller Guarantee We specialise in authentic Japanese ceramics and guarantee this piece's authenticity. Questions welcome – we reply within 24 hours.