Japanese Style Ceramic Vase with Lugs by Janet Leach (1981)

Japanese-style ceramic vase with lugs by Janet Leach (1981). Encompasses the beautiful simplicity of Zen and translated to a piece of pottery. The S on the ash-glaze body of the piece is reminiscent of a rake mark in a Zen garden not unlike those found in the ancient, dignified tea houses in Kyoto in the vicinity of the famed temples. One can almost hear the serene rustle of the immense bamboos swaying in the breeze as well. That's a lot for a ceramic to deliver but seeing the piece and touching it does indeed transport one to a tranquil place. The vase is impressed with the artist's and pottery seals and is fitted, initialled and dated in a Japanese wooden box. This piece is particularly unusual as it was originally sold in Japan and found its way to the United Kingdom. It is in good condition. Upon request a video of the piece may be provided.

About the Artist: Janet Leach (1918-1997), was an American studio potter working in later life at the Leach Pottery in St Ives, Cornwall in England. After studying pottery at Black Mountain, North Carolina under Shoji Hamada, a visiting artisan, she traveled to Japan to work with him. She studied with him for two years and always considered him to be her principal mentor. She was the first foreign woman to study pottery in Japan and only the second westerner.

After returning to the US from Japan, in 1955 she married Bernard Leach, the noted British studio potter, whom she had earlier studied with. They returned to Great Britain to operate his studio at St. Ives. Janet Leach continued to be influenced by Japanese aesthetics in her pottery and ceramics, and her work has increased in popularity. In 2006-2007 there was a major retrospective of her work at Tate St Ives. (Wikipedia)