Miyashita Zenji (1939-2012) is a distinguished porcelain artist. Born in Kyoto he studied under Tomimoto Kenkichi and Kondo Yūzō and was partly inspired by the sculptural ceramics of the avant-garde Sodeisha movement.

Miyashita specialises in slab-built vessels with structured forms, coated in multi-coloured overlays of extremely thin layers of gradated colored clays using mineral pigments. Formed in irregular bands using a spatula to cover the surface of each sculptural vessel, a Japanese technique known as saidei, transforming the surfaces into dreamlike landscapes of distant hills, drifting clouds and sunsets and perhaps seascapes of ocean horizons. The vessels are then fired at about 1,250°C.

“In each work, my intention is to create a delightful musical performance––a harmony of color blending with a restrained sense of the clay ––becoming a canvas for evocative tranquil landscapes.”

Miyashita use of colours firmly follows in the Kyoto tradition of colourful patterns as found in the court robes of the Heian period and in later ceramics of Ninsei and Kenzan.

His works are in the collections of many museums in USA including Metropolitan Museum and Brooklyn Museum NY; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco ; National Museums of Modern Art, Tokyo and Kyoto; British Museum, London; Musee Cernuschi, Paris; Auckland Art Gallery, New Zealand are just a few of the museums worldwide.