Graceful Japanese Gourd Vase, Black and Brown Glazed Textured Ceramic, 20th Century

Japan, XXth Century

A lithesome Japanese double-gourd vase, in glazed black and textured earth-toned stoneware. A compressed globular lower bulb —its matte, beautifully tactile surface mottled like melon rind — flows into a smaller upper bulb, with a silky brown underglaze and an inky black overglaze delicately layered for a richly dimensional color. A narrow, subtly flared mouth with a stark white lip crowns this uniquely drip-glazed work. A traditional elongated form popularized during the Edo period, the vase’s stark simplicity nevertheless reads as highly modern.