Bowl

Object Details

• Artist

  Kawamoto Goro (1919-1986)

• Description

  Bowl pinched from a single mass of coarse clay, without subtracting or adding; design of three archaic deer stenciled in white against dark brown; overall thin blown-on iron pigment.

  Box, cedar. Inscribed on front of lid: [square red seal], tetsu shi hachi [iron ceramic bowl]; on back of lid, "Goro yo (Goro kiln)."

• Signatures

  (L. Cort, June 2009): Mark (go?) incised on base

• Inscriptions

  Inscribed on from of cedar box lid: [square red seal], tetsu shi hachi [iron ceramic bowl]; on back of lid, "Goro yo (Goro kiln)."

• Label

  Kawamoto Goro (1919–1986, Seto, Aichi Prefecture) viewed the potter's wheel as a tool invented in order to make large numbers of wares; concluding that work done on the wheel was determined not by the potter's independent idea but by the wheel’s potential, he went back to hand-building to be able to play with ideas. This bowl arose from the challenge of shaping a vessel from a single ball of clay. The decoration, perhaps inspired by the stenciled designs on cave walls in southwest France, gives a focal point to the form and also reveals Kawamoto’s broad interests in art.

• Provenance

  From 1962 to 2010

  Mr. and Mrs. Victor Hauge [1]

  From 2010

  Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Hauge in 2010

  Notes:

  [1] Curatorial notes: Purchased from the artist by Taka Hauge in 1962.

  (The last date on the artist's name card enclosed with the piece is 1960.)

• Collection

  National Museum of Asian Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Reinventing the Wheel: Japanese Ceramics 1930 - 2000 (July 23, 2011 - June 30, 2013)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Victor (1919-2013) and Takako (1923-2015) Hauge

• Origin

  Seto, Aichi prefecture, Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Victor and Takako Hauge

• 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.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1960s

• Name

  Hauge, Victor and Takako

• Place

  Aichi prefecture, Japan, Seto

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Japanese

• Object Type

  Vessels (containers)