Vase in a baluster form of porcelain with a mottled glaze of black and glowing tortoiseshell-brown. Signed on the reverse with an incised and glazed signature in a hexagonal reserve: Kiyo (Kiyomizu Rokubei V, 1875 – 1959). Early Showa era, circa 1936.

With the tomobako or original box, inscribed on the outside of the interior box lid: Hiyo Kabin or Splashed Glaze Vase, and signed: Rokubei, and sealed: Kiyo.

For another of Rokubei V’s vases with a similar glaze, c.f. The Retrospective Exhibition of Kiyomizu Rokubei 1 – VIII, page 123, number V-27.

On an elegantly classical form, Rokubei applies a lustrous, warm glaze and then splashes it with deep black. The abstract mottling achieved by these highly reflective glazes seems to shimmer and shift with movement.