Domed Vase

Miyashita Zenji applied extremely thin layers of colored clay to the body of this vase. The technique creates an overlap that, when paired with a gradient color palette ranging from dark purple to pale yellow to light pink, evokes sunrise over a hazy mountain range.

The son of ceramic artist Miyashita Zenju, Miyashita Zenji began working with celadon ceramics at a young age and has been been employing a procedure called saidei in his work since the early 1980s. Saidei involves layering paper-thin sheets of colored clay over one another to create a relief effect along the body of the vessel. Zenji typically uses a gradated range of colors, and his work demonstrates a strong appreciation of nature, often calling to mind distant hills, sunsets, drifting clouds, or rolling waves.