Japan, large ceramic bowl by Kyoko Shimada

Kyoko Shimada, large ceramic cup with floral decoration and gold and silver background

Japan, contemporary
Large open hemispheric-shaped cup, made of ceramic, by Kyoko Shimada, decorated with large flowers and foliage in a range dominated by deep blue, brown, pinkish white and metallic highlights. The exterior wall is entirely animated by this ample and free plant decoration, treated with a very pictorial energy. The interior responds to this richness with a geometric decoration in gold and silver, arranged in triangular facets, which captures light and gives the cup a very decorative presence.

The shape is wide, stable, very open, with an irregular lip that contributes to the vitality of the piece. What strikes first is the contrast between the very free movement of the exterior floral decoration and the more constructed ordering of the inner center. This opposition gives the work its balance. The cut is not only ornate: it is thought of as a large pictorial volume, where the entire surface becomes a place of deployment of the motif.

The decor is characteristic of the work of Kyoko Shimada, known for her compositions of flowers and plants treated with elegance, freedom and a sense of color. Japanese sources describe her as an artist born in 1954 in Ibaraki Prefecture, trained at the Tochigi Prefectural Ceramics Guidance Center, active in Mashiko since 1978, and particularly recognized for her four-season flower decorations. They also recall his regular exhibitions, especially in Takashimaya Nihonbashi, as well as the publication in 2004 of a book devoted to his floral motifs.

This large cup shows well what makes the interest of his work: a ceramic very constructed in its shape, but carried by a free paint, almost textile in places, which gives the flowers and foliage a remarkable decorative amplitude. The sustained blue, the clear reserves and the golden and silver accents give the piece a strong presence, immediately readable in an interior.
No box.

Dimensions: height 30 cm; diameter 47 cm.