c. 2004

Water Container (Mizusashi) with Lid

Japanese, born 1950

Kawase Shinobu's elegant ceramic forms for tea caddies, incense containers, and water containers are much sought after by practitioners of the traditional tea ceremony in Japan. Kawase models his celadon glazes on Chinese Sung dynasty ceramics, and has said that some of his works are inspired by the naturalistic forms of the Tang dynasty: this beautiful pentagonal-shaped mizusashi, for example, seems to echo the shape of a melon or persimmon.