Mid 20th Century Old Japanese Natural Wood Vase Object / Showa Period / Sculptural Wabi-Sabi Form

Details

Description

This is a vase and objet d'art that makes the most of a piece of natural wood in its original … Read more This is a vase and objet d'art that makes the most of a piece of natural wood in its original form, thought to have been made in Japan during the Showa period. According to the buyer who sourced it, it had been kept in an old private house.

Objects like this, made from dead trees or roots and fashioned into ornamental pieces or vases for arranging flowers, were often found in the homes of reasonably wealthy Japanese families in the past. They exist in a wide range of sizes, but most of them have been thickly coated with something like varnish, giving them a glaring, glossy finish.

This piece, however, has no such coating, and the texture of the wood itself has been preserved. While its form is sculptural, the absence of excessive gloss gives it a calm, settled atmosphere.

The wood is so sinewy that its fibers stand out in ridges, and it may be something like driftwood. The material appears to be a coniferous wood, yet it is dense and noticeably heavier than it looks. The natural form of the wood is preserved from every angle, all 360 degrees around, and the twisting, rising undulations of the grain and the hollows that open here and there show a different expression depending on the angle from which it is viewed. The base has been cut cleanly and flat, so it stands stably on its own.

The condition is very good, but in one place, as shown in the detail photo, the tip of the wood has been chipped off. Please check the detail photo.

You can casually arrange dried branches in it, or place a tube-shaped container inside and fill it with water to display fresh flowers. Of course, it has more than enough presence on its own. Rather than a piece with a strongly withered, wabi-sabi character, it has an air of refinement, with a subtle, moist luster, and it should settle comfortably alongside modern furniture and in contemporary spaces. Pieces like this rarely come along, so we hope you will take this opportunity to consider it.

Size: W44.5cm x D29.2cm x H67.8cm
Weight: 7.7kg
Item No.: OB346

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