AB # 10743

TOMIMOTO KENKICHI (1886-1963)

Object: Suiboku-ga (Ink painting) of a plate decorated with Japanese quince

Date: Spring 1928

Media: Ink on paper with Tomimoto sometsuke ceramic end rollers

Size: Scroll 46 x 15 5/8 in.; Painting 12 1/4 x 12 in.

Box Title: Kazarizara “boke”; Decorative Platter “Japanese Quince” (cover)

1928年　春 東京祖師窯初窯陶軸を附す

Spring 1928 Tokyo soshi-gama hatsu-gama tōjiku wo fusu

(Tokyo Soshi Kiln, First Firing Ceramic Endrollers) (inside cover)

Signed: Tomimoto Kenkichi

Sealed: Tomi

Price: $ 4,850

This lovely and expressive ink painting depicts a Japanese quince-patterned platter. During Tomimoto’s career, he worked simultaneously in a variety of media. He strongly believed that patterns and designs should not be repeated and that nature should be the principle source of inspiration, allowing an artist’s work to remain fresh and new. His sketches from nature

became the models for his ceramics patterns and his paintings. Capping off the ends of this hanging scroll are two porcelain blue-and-white Tomimoto-designed end rollers that according to the box inscription were created by him at the first firing of the Tokyo Soshi Kiln.

References:

Baekeland, Frederick. Moses, Robert. Modern Japanese Ceramics in American Collections. New York: Japan Society, Inc., 1993, 34,129-30.

Shimizu, Christine. Tōji: Avant-Garde et Tradition de la céramique Japonaise. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 2006. Exhibition catalog: 42, 44.

Todate, Kazuko and Ann Nishimura Morse. Fired Earth, Woven Bamboo. Contemporary Japanese Ceramics and Bamboo Art. Boston, MA: MFA Publ., Museum of Fine Arts, 2013, p. 29.