Standing sculpture

Miyashita Zenji was an artist who innovated in both ceramic sculpture and functional wares. Beginning in the early 1980s, he became known for his signature method called saidei, “colored clays.” This technique involved layering paper-thin sheets of colored clay over one another to create a low-relief effect along the body of the vessel. Son of the ceramist Miyashita Zenju (1901–1968), Kyoto-based Miyashita was trained by Kiyomizu Kyubey (1922–2006) and Kusube Yaichi (1897–1984), a founder of the early twentieth-century Sekido ceramic art group.