Vase with Narcissus
Artist
Higuchi, Kimiake
(Japanese, born 1948)
Date2010
MediumPâte de verre, kiln-formed
Dimensions13 7/8 × 7 1/4 × 6 in. (35.2 × 18.4 × 15.2 cm)
ClassificationsGlass
Credit LineGift of the Leah and Richard Waitzer Foundation
Object number2022.54
Label TextKimiake Higuchi
(Japanese, b. 1948)
Vase with Narcissus
Pâte-de-verre, kiln-formed, 2010
Gift of The Leah and Richard Waitzer Foundation. 2022.54
The scale and sophistication of objects made with the singular expertise of Japanese artist Kimiake Higuchi and her husband Shin-ichi (born 1947) belies the humble origins of the glass-forming technique best known today by the French term pâte-de-verre. Since the 1980s, the Higuchis have devoted their artistic practice to this technique and its evolution: from ancient Near-Eastern artisans firing ground glass pressed into open molds to make small colorful objects to French Art Nouveau craftsmen making prized vessels and sculptures in the early 20th-century. In their Japanese studio, they advanced the pâte-de-verre technique to create sculptural forms of unsurpassed intricacy and perfection, inspired by nature.
This vase celebrates the onset of spring by capturing delicate narcissus flowers (in Japanese, suisen: “water hermit” or “water wizard”) in high relief. Emanating from a dark blue base and set against a light blue background above, the three-dimensional blossoms overlap as if swaying and turning in the breeze, providing a naturalistic snapshot of a meadow in spring. Kimiake Higuchi has used the narcissus motif on vessels since the 1990s; this vase was created the year before the 2011 earthquake destroyed their studio in Tochigi, Japan.
Status
Not on view
1988
