Mingei Arts

A skillfully carved box that has a lid illustrating a garden setting with two figures in period robes. The round box has an interesting Greek Key motif on all sides, creating a wonderful textural pattern to the body of the piece. After the box was formed it was painted with black lacquer up to 100 [...]

At first Suiteki were simply jars or bowls used for holding water, but as interest in the accoutrements of calligraphy grew, water-droppers became more specialized. Suiteki are used by brush calligraphers to hold and dispense exact amounts of water onto an ink stone for the purpose of mixing and diluting ink pigment. Due to the limited [...]

At first Suiteki were simply jars or bowls used for holding water, but as interest in the accoutrements of calligraphy grew, water-droppers became more specialized. Suiteki are used by brush calligraphers to hold and dispense exact amounts of water onto an ink stone for the purpose of mixing and diluting ink pigment. Due to the limited [...]

The Japanese robes in this exhibition catalogue can be seen as exquisite textiles-tapestries for the body that need no history to inform the viewer of their importance as art. Japanese people often attribute personality traits to people from particular regions and positions within society (i.e., Fuyu no so [nobility], gentry, farmers, artisans, and merchants), and [...]

Japanese ceramics have long been part of western museums and art collections from the postwar decades on, as Japanese pottery techniques and concepts exerted profound influence on ceramic art outside Japan. Bizen, one of the six major kiln production/sites has a history going back some one thousand years to the Heian period (794-1185), when the [...]

The Japanese art deco movement was a breakaway from the conventional form of art practiced throughout the centuries in Japan. This was the same role that art deco played in most of the other places where it sprung up. The movement began to create ripples in the world of art after 1925, and was a [...]

This is one of the most unusual pieces we have come across incorporating both wood and metal. The head is traditionally detailed and is attached with thread to the body. The body of the piece is not wood as one would expect but metal with impressed motifs simulating a Haori (Jacket). Hanging from the base [...]

Usofuki is a legendary character in Japan. Usofuki, also known as Hyottoko, was a boy named Hyoutokusu from which the character’s name originated. Hyottoko made strange clown faces and was said to create gold out of his belly button. Some Usofuki have different sized eyes, but most have one eye closed and one open. A scarf is [...]