Author's vase by Fujii Shumei. Made of porcelain, covered with hand painting. The vase has the author's mark - Fujii Shumei (藤井朱明). The vase comes with a stand. Japan, 1970s.

Fujii Shumei (藤井朱明) is one of the iconic Japanese ceramists of the 20th century. In Japan, it is not customary to name styles after one person; most often, styles were named after a locality (Kutani village, Satsuma province). The fact that the Japanese have moved away from the centuries-old traditions that they honor speaks of the scale of the master. Fujii Shumei's vases are exhibited at major world auctions and are in museums, for example, in the exposition of the British Museum in London.

Fujii Shumei was born in Arita in 1945 (according to other sources, in 1936). At the age of 15, he began working as an apprentice in a pottery workshop. In 1964, he first exhibited his works at the Nitten exhibition, where a year later he received his first prize. In 1977, he opened his own kiln in Arita and became a very successful artist who received numerous awards at the Japan Ceramic Art Exhibition, the Kyushu Yamaguchi Ceramics Exhibition, and was awarded the Minister of Education Award. He is known for his original decorative technique using painted leaves applied to the unglazed surface of porcelain. The master is still alive, but his early works are already considered vintage. Now Fujii Shumei no longer works constantly, but the rare works that he creates are highly valued on the art market. The average price for the master's works is about 3,500-4,000 dollars.