Vintage Japanese Mashiko Mingei Hamada School Stoneware Plate c1970 Green Plum Branch 11"W

Japanese Mashiko-yaki (益子焼) mingei stoneware plate, Oribe-style green crackle glaze with iron-oxide prunus branch, Showa period

Japan; Showa period, mid-to-late 20th century

A Mashiko-yaki (益子焼) stoneware plate glazed in a rich Oribe-style (織部) copper green with pronounced crackle, the surface carrying a prunus branch (梅, ume) composition in iron-oxide brushwork — the bare winter branches and scattered blossoms painted in warm brown and white against the deep green field. The interplay between the crackled green glaze and the iron brushwork gives the plate a layered visual depth, the crackle lines reading as an additional drawn element rather than a glaze defect. The clay body emerges at the rim in the characteristic iron-orange of Mashiko stoneware. The reverse is unglazed with a wide foot ring in the natural clay.

Oribe-green glaze — named for the tea master Furuta Oribe (古田織部), whose aesthetic preferences shaped Momoyama-period ceramic production — entered the Mashiko vocabulary as part of the broader mingei engagement with Japan's historic folk and tea ceremony ceramic traditions. Its application here to a freely painted prunus composition in the Hamada Shōji (濱田庄司) manner produces a plate of considerable visual presence — the green field giving the iron brushwork an intensity it would not carry against a lighter ground.

• Form: Mashiko-yaki stoneware plate, wide foot ring, iron-orange clay rim
• Glaze: Oribe-style copper green crackle; iron-oxide prunus branch brushwork
• Mark: None visible
• Period: Showa, mid-to-late 20th century
• Dimensions: 11″W (27.9 cm)
• Condition: Crackle glaze consistent with Oribe-style production; light surface wear; no chips or cracks noted. Please see photos for details.