Collector's Guide Vol. 11 — Curating Across Mediums: Pairing Japanese Ceramics with Archaic Bronze, Gold-Leaf Studio Glass & Woodblock Prints

One of the most liberating principles of Japanese interior curation—rooted in the traditional tokonoma (床の間) display alcove and refined scholar's desk (shoin 書院) arrangements—is torikumi (取組み): the deliberate pairing of contrasting materials so each medium sharpens the presence of the others.

When a room displays only glossy porcelain, the eye quickly grows accustomed to a single reflectance. But when a collector places crackled celadon stoneware beside patinated cast bronze, hot-worked gold-leaf studio glass, smoked architectural tile relief, and mulberry-paper (washi) woodblock prints, every surface texture awakens. Here is how six live works from Sabiru Treasures' collection converse across mediums.

1. Archaic Bronze & Reduction Celadon: Kobayashi Shōmin (108043129) Meets Maeda Masanori (108042550)

For over a millennium, Chinese and Japanese connoisseurs have paired ancient ritual bronzes (seidōki) with celadon ceramics (seiji). Let us examine why this dialogue remains so compelling through two works in our collection:

• Kobayashi Shōmin (小林尚珉, 1912–1994) & Shōkōsha (尚工舎) — 1986 Cast-Bronze Archaic Tiger Bell 'Kohaku' (鋳銅製 虎鎛, Lot 108043129, H 12.0 × W 10.0 × D 7.5 cm): Cast in 1986 after the celebrated Western Zhou bronze Kohaku preserved in Kyoto's Sen-oku Hakukokan Museum (Sumitomo Collection), this bell features bold flanged wings decorated with archaic taotie-inspired scrolls and a pair of sculptural tigers crowning the suspension arch. Inside the cavity are cast the Sumitomo Igeta (井桁) well-frame emblem, the year 1986, and the signature 尚珉 (Shōmin), housed in a dual-inscribed paulownia tomobako.

• Maeda Masanori (前田正範, 1928–1992 • Impressed Seal 'Senzan' 泉山, Lot 108042550, H 18.5 × D 18.0 cm): Placed beside Shōmin's dark bronze patina, Maeda Masanori's Kyō-yaki Crackled Celadon (Kannyū Seiji) and Copper-Red (Kōsai) Globular Vase creates an immediate visual counterpoint. Its network of icy blue-green crackles and reduction-fired crimson lotus petals echoes the ancient bronze's solemn silhouette while introducing translucent depth. (Note: Maeda Masanori's vase is authenticated by its impressed square base seal 泉山 Senzan inside the footring and is offered without a wooden box.)

2. Luminous Gold Leaf in Hot-Worked Studio Glass: Iwata Hisatoshi (107698252)

In our 603-work European collector archive, studio glass accounts for just 9 carefully chosen works (1.5%)—making authentic twentieth-century Japanese art glass a rare accent rather than a mass category. Iwata Hisatoshi (岩田久利, 1925–1994), son of Japanese modern glass pioneer Iwata Tōshichi, mastered the suspension of metallic leaf inside molten glass.

In his Gold-Leaf & Milky-White Amphora Vase (Lot 107698252), an opalescent white core is wrapped in clear glass and crowned at the flared mouth, twin C-handles, and pedestal foot with richly fissured pure gold leaf (kinpaku). Displayed on a sideboard near dark iron-glazed stoneware or bronze, the vase catches ambient daylight and warms the entire vignette.

3. Graphic Intimacy & Architectural Relief: Takehisa Yumeji (107937204), Ibushi-Gawara (107734025) & Esoteric Bronze (107738274)

To complete a multi-medium display wall or study shelf, consider three distinct Japanese craft vocabularies: - Taishō Lyric Woodblock Prints on Washi — After Takehisa Yumeji (竹久夢二, 1884–1934 • Lot 107937204): This set of three matted 'Kuroneko' (黒猫, Black Cat) woodblock prints on warm Japanese mulberry paper brings graphic poise and poetic nostalgia to the wall above a ceramic display shelf. - Carbon-Smoked Ceramic Roof-Tile Sculpture — Ibushi-Gawara Dragon Plaque (美術陶器 額瓦 辰, Lot 107734025): Fired and carbon-smoked to a metallic graphite sheen (ibushi-gin), this high-relief dragon plaque bridges ceramic sculpture and architectural heritage. - Esoteric Buddhist Bronze Casting — Two-Part Wisdom Sword of Monju Bosatsu (文殊の知恵剣 / 倶利伽羅剣, Lot 107738274): A finely cast copper-alloy ritual object uniting a dragon-coiled vajra sword with an interlocking triangular lotus base.

Build Your Cross-Medium Collector Profile

Whether your eye is drawn to Sodeisha ceramic sculpture, Living National Treasure guinomi, studio glass, or archaic bronze, download our complimentary Collector's Handbook (PDF) and complete the 3-Question Collector Profile at Looking Notes to receive our private VIP Lookbooks and 48-hour First Look alerts.