Blue ceramic striped pattern bowl

A blue between sky and ink — Zōgan-sometsuke bowl

This bowl is the work of Ryozo Shibata, a Kyoto-based ceramicist whose practice is rooted in deep and patient research. As a student, he immersed himself in the study of underglaze painting techniques from Ming dynasty Chinese kilns — ceramics of unparalleled refinement in the history of art. Rather than reproducing them, however, he sought to go further: to find a language entirely his own.

From this search was born his technique, which he calls zōgan-sometsuke — literally, "inlaid blue-and-white decoration". An entirely original method, the fruit of many years of research and experimentation.

The process begins with incision: Shibata traces lines into the raw clay with a needle, with extreme precision. Into each groove thus carved, he deposits his blue pigment — Shibata Gosu: a cobalt blue he prepares himself, according to a formula carefully refined over many years. This gosu — a pigment used in ceramics since ancient times — takes on a particular depth and vibrancy in his hands, somewhere between a night sky and Chinese ink.

Where brushwork would leave slightly softened edges, the direct inlay into the clay produces lines of a sharpness and sophistication that the brush alone cannot achieve. To these precise lines are added color fields applied by dyeing with washi — traditional Japanese paper — which bring soft, veiled surfaces, as though suffused with light. It is the meeting of these two registers — the incised line, sharp and modern, and the diffused color, airy and poetic — that creates the expressive transparency and depth characteristic of Shibata's work.

This bowl has been recognized at the highest level: a similar work by Shibata was acquired by the Imperial Household Agency of Japan. His pieces are also held in the permanent collections of Kyoto City University of Arts and the Embassy of Japan in Australia. He has presented his technique at Harvard University's ceramics department.

This bowl can hold fruit or food, or simply rest as a sculpture on a surface. Depending on the angle and the light, the translucent white of the glaze and the deep blue of the inlaid lines reveal themselves differently, offering a work that changes with the eye that rests upon it.

Dimensions: W 19.5 cm × D 19.5 cm × H 10 cm
Material: Ceramic, zōgan-sometsuke technique — lines inlaid with Shibata Gosu (cobalt), color fields applied with washi paper
Artist: Ryozo Shibata
Shipped from Kyoto, Japan