Japanese Kyoto Studio Porcelain Vase LNT Kondo Yuzo Blue Sometsuke Thistles

For sale:
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Type: High Shouldered Jar Vase
Material: Porcelain
Age: 20th C. (1900s)
Origin/Maker: Signed Kondo Yuzo (近藤悠三), Kyoto, Japan. Maker's mark on base. With signed tomobako (storage box)
1902-1985
male
living national treasure
Kondo Yuzo was designated a living national treasure and left a remarkable legacy to Japanese ceramics. He was born in 1902 on the very site of this memorial museum, just outside the gate of Kiyomizu Temple. At the age of 12, he entered the training facility of the Ceramics Laboratory to learn to use the potter’s wheel. It was there that he met Kawai Kanjiro and Hamada Shoji.
Starting when he was 19, he spent three years as an assistant to Tomimoto Kenkichi in Nara.
He established his own studio in the same area when he was 22. There he devoted himself to refining his artistic vision and perfecting his technique.
Thus he was able to reach new heights in his work and gained a reputation as the finest master of the blue and white porcelain known as sometsuke.
In 1924, he attended the Western-style painting institute of the Kansai Art Institute, where he improved his painting techniques.
In 1928, his work was selected for the first time at the 9th Teiten exhibition, and since then he has been active at both the Teiten and Shin Bunten exhibitions, receiving a special prize at the 3rd Shin Bunten exhibition in 1939.
After the war, he joined the New Artistic Crafts Association, which was founded by Kenkichi Tomimoto in 1951. He also participated in Japan Kogei Association, which was established in 1955, and exhibited his works at the Japan Traditional Craft Exhibition.
He became a professor at Kyoto City University of Arts in 1958, where he taught the younger generation, and became the president of the university in 1965.
In 1977, he was designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure) for his blue and white technique.
Kondo’s themes – pomegranates, mountain ranges, pine, plum, bamboo and thistles reoccur in his work and have maintained their vivacity across time and in use on alternate forms. The pieces in this exhibition show the use of his motifs such as the thistle on both a cup and a vase, nicely proportioned to relation to the form they decorate. Landscape appears on the later box whose background has been gilt, perhaps a homage to later work by Tomimoto or simply Kondo’s response to the Imperial taste of old Kyoto. Again, they represent a highly original body of work and they have no equal.
Size: 8-7/8" tall (22.543 cm)
Weight: 6 lbs 2.5 oz (2792 g)
Provenance:
Present: Ryan Snooks collection of Japanese & Asian Decorative Art
Previous: Private Collection
Collected: Seller from Tokyo, Japan, 22 JAN 2024
Condition: Item is used in good condition commensurate with age, see photos. No cracks or chips. Some light surface wear.
Subject: Decorated in underglaze blue and white (sometsuke) with designs of thistles and grasses
Location:
Japanese Kyoto Studio Porcelain Vase LNT Kondo Yuzo Blue Sometsuke Thistles
www.ebay.com/sch/xcoasterxtreme/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=&rt=nc&LH_Auction=1
See also:
Type: High Shouldered Jar Vase
Material: Porcelain
Age: 20th C. (1900s)
Origin/Maker: Signed Kondo Yuzo (近藤悠三), Kyoto, Japan. Maker's mark on base. With signed tomobako (storage box)
1902-1985
male
living national treasure
Kondo Yuzo was designated a living national treasure and left a remarkable legacy to Japanese ceramics. He was born in 1902 on the very site of this memorial museum, just outside the gate of Kiyomizu Temple. At the age of 12, he entered the training facility of the Ceramics Laboratory to learn to use the potter’s wheel. It was there that he met Kawai Kanjiro and Hamada Shoji.
Starting when he was 19, he spent three years as an assistant to Tomimoto Kenkichi in Nara.
He established his own studio in the same area when he was 22. There he devoted himself to refining his artistic vision and perfecting his technique.
Thus he was able to reach new heights in his work and gained a reputation as the finest master of the blue and white porcelain known as sometsuke.
In 1924, he attended the Western-style painting institute of the Kansai Art Institute, where he improved his painting techniques.
In 1928, his work was selected for the first time at the 9th Teiten exhibition, and since then he has been active at both the Teiten and Shin Bunten exhibitions, receiving a special prize at the 3rd Shin Bunten exhibition in 1939.
After the war, he joined the New Artistic Crafts Association, which was founded by Kenkichi Tomimoto in 1951. He also participated in Japan Kogei Association, which was established in 1955, and exhibited his works at the Japan Traditional Craft Exhibition.
He became a professor at Kyoto City University of Arts in 1958, where he taught the younger generation, and became the president of the university in 1965.
In 1977, he was designated as an Important Intangible Cultural Property (Living National Treasure) for his blue and white technique.
Kondo’s themes – pomegranates, mountain ranges, pine, plum, bamboo and thistles reoccur in his work and have maintained their vivacity across time and in use on alternate forms. The pieces in this exhibition show the use of his motifs such as the thistle on both a cup and a vase, nicely proportioned to relation to the form they decorate. Landscape appears on the later box whose background has been gilt, perhaps a homage to later work by Tomimoto or simply Kondo’s response to the Imperial taste of old Kyoto. Again, they represent a highly original body of work and they have no equal.
Size: 8-7/8" tall (22.543 cm)
Weight: 6 lbs 2.5 oz (2792 g)
Provenance:
Present: Ryan Snooks collection of Japanese & Asian Decorative Art
Previous: Private Collection
Collected: Seller from Tokyo, Japan, 22 JAN 2024
Condition: Item is used in good condition commensurate with age, see photos. No cracks or chips. Some light surface wear.
Subject: Decorated in underglaze blue and white (sometsuke) with designs of thistles and grasses
Location:
Japanese Kyoto Studio Porcelain Vase LNT Kondo Yuzo Blue Sometsuke Thistles