Wakao Toshisada 若尾利貞 Japanese, b. 1933
H9.8 x W57.8 x D28.5cm
Further images
Wakao Toshisada’s platter depicts his spirit for abstract forms that portray silhouettes of flora and fauna. The milky nezumi-shino glaze is accompanied by a black foreground constructed using a combination of wax resist and fabric-pressing (nunome 布目) techniques. Inspired by the Rinpa school of painting, which was a key part of the Edo period revival of decorative surfaces, with evocative references to nature and seasonal motifs. In this platter, he recalls a scene from Taketori Monogatari (竹取物語), or the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter: the bamboo grove casting long shadows under a milky white moonlight.
The Tajimi-born potter Wakao Toshisada treats his ceramic works as canvas surfaces that hold great narrative and representational potential. Having been heavily influenced by the Rinpa school of painting, which was a key part of the Edo period revival of decorative surfaces, he recalls natural motifs in his works that frequently use motifs that reference classical court literature or poetry. He was appointed as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Gifu Prefecture in 2003 and has since exhibited internationally. Wakao began his training at his father's workshop as a teenager in 1948, and was heavily influenced by the innovations in traditional Shino glazing developed by the potter Arakawa Toyozo 荒川 豊蔵 (1894-1985).
