Japanese Ceramic Vase with Tomobako Early Work by Mihara Ken

A ceramic vase by Japanese potter Mihara Ken (b.1958) made in his early career circa 1990s.
The dark grey stoneware vessel is in a cylindrical from slightly tapered toward the top. It flattened to a short shoulder before a short neck with round opening. The body has a subtly coarse texture features two overlapping rectangular shapes in two lighter shades: one in light grey, one in greyish white. The inlaid color blocks contrast the shape of the vase and form a gradient in color as well. The piece is impressed maker's mark and comes with an original signed and titled wooden tomobako box. This work is an example of the modernist series Mihara Ken made earlier in his career when he used incised line and glaze inlay to create geometrical form on the background of the dark gray body.
Provenance: Private Collection, Japan.
Mihara Ken was born in 1958 in Shimane Prefecture, Japan. He is one of the most renowned Japanese ceramists today. Hailing from Izumo, home to mystic landscapes that gave birth to the great majority of Japan's legends, Mihara's works call to mind the spiritual aesthetics of ceremonial vessels. Yet at the same time, his ceramics embody a deeply introspective and Zen tranquility.