Vase in a tall, cylindrical form opening to a squared and flaring mouth, the sides decorated with long lines of snake grass in blue, green, bronze and gold. Of white porcelain hand-painted in iron oxide and over-glaze enamels with gilt details. Signed on the reverse in iron oxide: Tozan Saku or Made by Tozan (Ito Tozan III, 1900 – 1970). Showa 13 or 1938.

With the tomobako or original box, inscribed on the exterior of the lid: Iro-e Togusa Moyo Kabin or Colored Porcelain Snake grass Design Vase; and signed: Tozan Tsukuru or Made by Tozan, and sealed: Tozan.

This or a similar vase was exhibited at the 2nd Shin-Bunten in 1938, and it is illustrated in the Nittenshi, volume 13, page 369, # 10.

The third generation in a lineage of noted Kyoto potters, Tozan III studied ceramics in the family studio from a young age. He showed frequently at the government-sponsored exhibitions, starting in 1929 at the 10th Teiten. Subsequently he exhibited at the 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Teiten; at the Kaiso Teiten and Bunten Kansaten in 1936; at the 3rd Shin-Bunten in 1938; the Hoshukuten in 1940; the 4th Shin-Bunten in 1941; and the Senji Tokubetsuten in 1944. After the Pacific War, he returned to the national venues with the 2nd Nitten in 1946, followed by the 8th Nitten in 1952; and then annually with the 9th – 13th Nitten in 1953 – 1957.

Here Tozan pots a vase from the circular flaring to an irregular squared form. The sides dance with snake grass in vibrant enamels, rising and falling with movement from the base to the rim. Lines of intense blue and green alternate with bronze, some wavering from clear to paler color showing through to the pale white ground. Gilt details the nodes. Snake grass was associated with the countryside and its harvest was sometimes portrayed beneath full, summer moonlight, milky as the finely crackled porcelain ground of this vase. Tozan’s irregular painting of the enamels suggests both light wind waving the stalks and an aesthetic of improvisation rather than a previous generation’s focus on precise perfection.