Minegishi Seikō 峯岸 勢晃 1952-2023

Born in Misato city, Saitama Prefecture, Japan

MINEGISHI SEIKŌ specialized in notoriously difficult craquelure celadon glaze on a wide range of vessel forms. His thickly applied glazes spanned the classical range of celadon colors from pale green to gray to beige and are characterized by kan'nyū, or deep crackling that accentuated his elegant forms.

Minegishi didn't originally work in celadon glazes but in kohiki vessels (an iron-rich body covered by thin white slip glazes) modeled on early Korean bun-cheong wares. After seeing a Chinese celadon bowl in the Tokyo National Museum, he began to research celadon and examine all the classical celadon collections in Japan, Taiwan, and Korea. After visually digesting these collections, Minegishi started experimenting with his clay and a variety of celadon glaze techniques. Five years later, he found the right method to create the deep crackles that are the signature of Guan wares. He also succeeded in creating deep reddish-purple lines that suffuse the crackled glaze and that became one of his signature aesthetics.