Kimura Mitsuru, Japanese studio pottery Mashiko ware sake cup, c1980

Size:  7 cm across rim, height 5.3 cm.

Condition:  Bowl in excellent condition.  The tomobako box is also in very good condition. It has the original cloth and was never fitted with ribbons.

This is a beautiful Mashiko ware sake cup,  hand thrown a hand faceted, with a kai-yu or ash-glaze and a wax-resist decoration of "blobs" in copper and iron glaze., It was made by the potter Mitsuru Kimura (1939-1998). He was born in Fujihara, Tochigi prefecture in 1939. Through marriage with Kimura Ichiro’s first daughter in 1968, he started studying under his new father-in-law. When Kimura Ichiro retired from potting, Mitsuru inherited the name and became the second generation working from the kiln. 

The bowl bears Kimura's impressed mark on the inside of the foot, and his signature and seal on the inside of the tomobako lid.