*THIS ITEM WILL SHIP VIA EMS EXPRESS TO ALL AVAILABLE DESTINATIONS.

This listing is for a set of five hakuji glaze tea cups made around 20 years ago by master potter and Living National Treasure Inoue Manji.  They are made of wheel-thrown porcelain and the front of each cup is decorated with an incised flower motif.  These cups are ideally suited to serving sencha, and the signature of the potter can be found on the bottom of each piece.  They also come with their original signed wooden storage box, as well as a turmeric coloured wrapping cloth for each cup. 

Inoue Manji (b.1929) is a renowned porcelain ware potter from Arita city.  He apprenticed under Sakaida Kakiemon XIV and went on to develop his own minimalist style of wares.  His pieces are wheel-thrown and then painstakingly carved into perfection.  His tableware is often simplistic and undecorated, and coated in translucent light green glaze.  During his illustrious career he spent five months as a mentor at the University of Pennsylvania.  This brought about some unexpected changes in his own work, he began to feel less bound by tradition and started adding more sculptural characteristics to his work.  He has won various prestigious awards throughout his career, the most notable being his first at the Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition in 1968, then at the Japan Ceramics Exhibition in 1971, the much sought after Minister's Award at the National Traditional Crafts Exhibition in 1977, the Saga Prefectural Cultural Services Award in 1986, and the Culture Minister of Education Award in 1987.  He was designated as a Contemporary Master Craftsman in 1979, he served as a judge at the Issuikai from 1983-2011, he was awarded the Distinguished Services Award by Saga Prefecture in 1993, named an Audit Commissioner of the Japan Traditional Crafts Exhibition in 1995, awarded the Japanese Government's Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1997, and awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon in 2003.  He was officially designated as a Living National Treasure by the Japanese government in 1995.

Hakuji refers to high-fired porcelain that was created by applying transparent glaze to white paste. The technique evolved from those used in China and Korea, and Korean potter Ri Sampei is said to be the first to begin producing porcelain-ware here in Japan. Originally hakuji was simply a base colour for Kakiemon and Nabeshima pieces. It was not until the Meiji Period that people began to appreciate the raw beauty of plain white porcelain. Although simple in appearance it is actually very difficult to fire hakuji pieces without flaws, thus making it very expensive.

Sizes

Box:  H.10.3cm (4”) x 38.5cm (15.1”) x 9.6cm (3.7”)

Cups:  H.6cm (2.3”) x Dia.8.2cm (3.2”)

Condition

The entire set is in very good condition with no chips or cracks.

THESE ARE SHIPPING ESTIMATES BASED ON THE CURRENT GLOBAL SITUATION                                                                 

**Germany, France, Greece, Spain, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Lithuania, Slovenia:  NO SHIPPING.  Very strict and expensive packaging laws in place and we are not licensed to send products to these countries.  We have no plan to register at this time because the process is in some cases very expensive and complicated, plus each country has its own set of regulations and application process. 

**USA, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Switzerland, Norway:  EMS Express 7-10 days.

**Asia:  EMS Express 3-5 days.

**Central Asia, Middle East, South Africa, Brazil, Mexico:  EMS Express 10-15 days.

**Russia:  No shipping methods available.