255. HASHIMOTO Tomonari, 1990- , “untitled” utsuwa

 255. HASHIMOTO Tomonari 橋本知成, 1990- , “untitled” utsuwa  器 (vessel), raku-fired

 

For Hashimoto, see item no. 236. 

Robert Mangold, the owner of the Kura Monzen Gallery, asked Hashimoto to make a few smaller pieces more suitable for shipping than his usual sizable sculptures. Hashimoto responded with a series of small utsuwa, or dishes, like this container. Utsuwa, as applied to pottery, is a general term for cooking and serving dishes. 

Black clay, glazed inside and out, mostly glossy black on the interior and about two-thirds black on the exterior, with other colors in the red and brown range, with a coppery sheen on the red parts, especially on the base. Some unglazed areas on the base and around the bottom of the exterior walls. Weight: 370 g (13 oz). Height: 10 cm (4 in). Diameter: 10.3-11.0 cm (4-1/8 – 4-3/8 in). 

This sits a shallow foot ring, 5.7-6.0 cm (2-1/4 – 2-3/8 in) in diameter. Above the foot ring, the base flares outward at a shallow angle to a height of around one centimeter (3/8 in), where the base meets the walls. The walls rise in a very shallow concave arc to the rim. The walls are quite thin for a piece of this size, a quality apparent in its relatively low weight. The diameter of the walls is highly irregular. An oddity is the vertical line beginning at the lip on one side of the exterior extending downward the length of the wall, across the bottom, and up the opposite side 180 degrees around the cup. On the interior the line is apparent on the bottom but not on the sides. On the exterior walls, the line is very bumpy. Either the piece was made in two identical sections and joined together but without smoothing over the joint or Hashimoto scored the surface in this fashion to suggest that the piece consists of two sections. Either way, the line breaks the piece into two sections and suggests division rather than unity. This otherwise has a smooth finish to the surface. 

This was fired Raku-style and has the characteristic glossy finish of Raku-ware. There are five spots around the circumference at the lower edge of the walls that are unglazed; they appear to be where Hashimoto held the piece with his fingers when he dipped it in the glaze. There are also several unglazed patches on the base. The coppery hues predominate on the glazed portions of the base. 

This came in a wooden box inscribed the artist in two lines: untitled 器 (utsuwa; vessel) / Tomonari, followed by his seal stamped in red. Included with the shipment was a copy of the printed catalogue made for the exhibition of Hashimoto’s works at the Kura Monzen Gallery in 2023. 

Purchased from the Kura Monzen Gallery, Kyoto, Japan, June 2024 (invoice, shipping and customs documents)