Shino ware - Signed by Kato Keishu (加藤景秋) - 茶碗 - 茶碗 - 友箱 - 石器 - 灰色笔触图案

Kato Keishu — 志野茶碗 designated Important Intangible Cultural Property Holder

Turn this bowl in the light and the grey brushwork crossing its Shino glaze seems to shift position, an irregular grid that never looks quite the same from one angle to the next.

Product Details
The potter built this tea bowl with a deliberately uneven wall, leaving a series of shallow facets around the body that catch the light differently as the bowl is turned in the hand. Over this he applied a Shino glaze — a feldspathic glaze prized in Mino ware for the way it turns milky white in reduction firing while still allowing warmer, orange-toned fire marks (hi-iro) to surface where the flame touched the clay most directly. Grey brushwork lines cross the surface in a loose, angular pattern, sitting just beneath the glaze's soft crackle. At the rim, small flecks of iron in the clay have bled faint reddish-brown spots through the white. The foot is left unglazed, exposing a rough, dark stoneware body that contrasts sharply with the pale glaze above it — a contrast that is very much part of how the piece is meant to be handled and turned during use. The bowl comes with its tomobako (artist's signed storage box), inscribed by the artist and bearing his seal, together with a folded kiln-lineage record listing the successive generations of the workshop.

Artist Profile
加藤景秋 (Kato Keishu), born Sōichi (壮一) in Gifu Prefecture on March 3, 1899, entered the ceramics trade at the age of seventeen. He devoted much of his career to studying and reviving the ceramic traditions of Mino's Momoyama period, working primarily in Shino ware. In 1950 he succeeded to the position of twelfth-generation head of the Toso Mino kiln lineage, a hereditary line tracing back to the legendary founder of Seto and Mino ceramics, Kato Kagemasa. His work was selected for the Japan Traditional Kogei Exhibition in both 1955 and 1956, and in 1958 Gifu Prefecture recognised him as a holder of Important Intangible Cultural Property status for his work in Shino and Oribe techniques. He died on August 6, 1972, at the age of seventy-three. The lineage he headed continued through his son, Kato Keisei, as thirteenth generation, and his grandson, Kato Yasukage, as fourteenth generation.

Condition & Specifications
Condition: Excellent for age. No chips, cracks, or restoration. While this is a vintage piece, it shows no visible signs of use and retains its original appearance in outstanding condition. Fine glaze crazing (kan-nyu) is present across the surface, consistent with the natural ageing of a Shino glaze and not a defect.
Height: 8.3 cm
Diameter: 13.1 cm
Weight (bowl only): 453 g
Weight (with tomobako): 698 g
The tomobako lid bears the inscription "陶祖十二代 / 志埜 / 茶盌" (Twelfth-generation Toso / Shino / Tea Bowl) in the artist's hand, together with his kaō (written seal) and a red seal stamp. An impressed seal is also present on the kodai (footring), though it is not fully legible. A separate folded paper record of the kiln's twelve generations, wrapped in cloth, accompanies the bowl.

About Mino Ware and Key Terms
What is Mino ware?
Mino ware is a centuries-old ceramic tradition from Gifu Prefecture, historically produced alongside Seto ware and especially associated with the Momoyama-period styles of Shino, Oribe, and Ki-Seto.

Shino
Shino is a thick, feldspathic glaze developed in Mino during the late 16th century, known for its milky white surface and the soft orange fire marks that appear where flame and ash touch the clay directly during firing.

Kodai
The kodai is the foot of a tea bowl, usually left unglazed to expose the raw clay body. Potters and collectors often examine it closely, since it reveals the clay itself and frequently carries a maker's stamp.

Kan-nyu
Kan-nyu refers to the fine network of hairline cracks that develops naturally in a glaze over time, a result of the different rates at which glaze and clay body contract after firing.

Tomobako
A tomobako is a wooden storage box made and inscribed by the artist themselves, used to confirm the authenticity and origin of the piece it houses.

Important Intangible Cultural
Property This designation is awarded in Japan, either nationally or by individual prefectures, to recognise craftspeople who preserve techniques of significant cultural value. Kato Keishu received this recognition from Gifu Prefecture in 1958 for his work in Shino and Oribe techniques — a prefectural honor, distinct from Japan's separate national "Living National Treasure" designation.

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