(cm. h. 23x ø 7,5)
Kato Shuzan, Active in the 20th century, he is recognized among the Mino masters who have received great recognition for their ability to replicate the Yuki-Shino (snow) glaze. The body of the vase is decorated with branches created using underglaze iron oxide brushstrokes that emerge to the surface in reddish-brown tones. The hand-painted Shuzan signature is featured on the bottom. The vase is coated with a Shino-yaki feldspar glaze with a characteristic milky white color reminiscent of fresh snow. The slow firing allows the glaze to incorporate tiny air bubbles, creating the characteristic pinholes (small surface holes known as "grapefruit skin"). The glassy surface is entirely covered with a refined craquelure ( kannyu ), a dense network of micro-cracks that occurs naturally during cooling in the kiln, when the clay and glaze shrink at different rates. In Japan, this effect is not considered a defect, but rather a quality that confers material depth and highlights the "living" soul of the ceramic.
The base reveals the natural light clay ( mogusa ), which has taken on orange hues ( hi-iro , the color of fire) where it came into direct contact with the flames of the wood-fired kiln. Housed in its original Paulownia wood tomobako . The box lid bears a rare red leaf-shaped seal at the top right, a distinctive hallmark of the Shuzan kiln's most prestigious line. At the bottom left is the master's handwritten signature accompanied by his seal.