Yukito Nishinaka (西中千人), Japanese, b. 1964

A Yobitsugi Glass Tea Bowl (呼継硝子茶碗)

Heisei Era (1989–2019) or Reiwa Era (2019–present)

About the work

An expressive Yobitsugi glass tea bowl by Yukito Nishinaka, combining a dark, rounded body with irregular passages of clear glass, warm orange and gold-toned detail. The composition gives the vessel a sense of reconstruction, in keeping with the artist’s exploration of renewal through glass.

The bowl has a deep, gently flaring profile, with a softly uneven rim and a compact base. Vertical ridges catch the light around the exterior, emphasising its curved form. Dark purple and almost black areas provide a rich ground for the brighter sections, giving the bowl considerable visual depth.

A vivid orange passage forms a prominent accent, enclosed by irregular clear and gold-toned boundaries. The relationships between these contrasting sections create an abstract pattern whose character changes with the viewing angle. Light passing through the transparent areas adds another dimension to the dense coloured glass.

The bowl brings a contemporary glass vocabulary to the traditional tea-bowl form, balancing tactile modelling with a complex surface. Accompanied by its original wooden box, inscribed to identify the Yobitsugi work.

Dimensions

8.6cm(h) x 13.2cm(w)

Footnote

Yukito Nishinaka was born in Wakayama in 1964. After graduating from Hoshi University, he studied sculpture and glass at California College of the Arts, then worked at the Toyama Institute of Glass Art before establishing his own studio in 1998. His practice draws on Japanese aesthetics, particularly the acceptance of imperfection and the relationship between destruction and renewal. In his Yobitsugi works, broken glass is reassembled into new forms, extending ideas associated with ceramic repair into the medium of glass. His work is held by institutions including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Ashmolean Museum and the MAK in Vienna.