Maak presents ‘Elemental’, an auction focused on Japanese ceramics spanning the 20th and 21st centuries. From Mingei to the Avant-Garde, the auction brings together functional vessels and ambitious sculptural forms, exploring the dialogue between tradition and innovation that continues to shape modern Japanese ceramics to this day.

With over 100 lots, the auction features key works by the early masters of the Mingei movement, including Hamada Shōji and Tomimoto Kenkichi. The auction will also include works by Hamada Shinsaka who continued his father’s legacy at Mashiko. The auction continues through the post-war period with artists who will be familiar to British collectors, particularly the celebrated Koie Ryōji. A more explicitly sculptural strand is represented by the avant-garde artists associated with the Sōdeisha Movement and its legacy, founded in Kyoto in 1948.

Tea and sake wares sit alongside works that challenge conventional definitions of the vessel in this specialist auction, revealing the remarkable breadth of ceramic practice in Japan over the past century.

The auction viewing takes place at our gallery space in Covent Garden between Saturday 14 – Wednesday 18 November, with the auction taking place online at www.maaklondon.com on Thursday 19 November.

Free to attend auction viewing