Square bottle

Object Details

• Artist

  Shimaoka Tatsuzo (Japan, 1919-2007)

• Label

  Following the death in 1977 of his teacher, Hamada Shoji, Shimaoka Tatsuzo became a leader of the Japanese Folk Craft Movement. In 1953 he built his own workshop next to Hamada's in the town of Mashiko. He has trained foreign potters and has exhibited widely in the United States and Europe. The molded square bottle form, which derives from European glass wine flasks, has been popular in Japan since the seventeenth century. Shimaoka decorated this piece by coating it with liquid clay (slip) and then carving through the slip, a technique inspired by Korean pottery.

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Paper and Clay from Modern Japan (January 20 to March 31, 1991)

• Origin

  Mashiko, Tochigi prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of the London Gallery and Shinsaku Hamada

• Type

  Vessel

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1990s, 1980s

• Name

  Shimaoka, Tatsuzo

• Place

  Japan, Tochigi prefecture, Mashiko

• Topic

  Contemporary Art, Art, Showa era (1926 - 1989), Stoneware, Japanese Art, Ceramics

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)