These two small bronze sculptures are from my collection. The cat is by a local bronze caster and artist, Kerk Taylor. The title in "Sophisticat". The Maori warrior is "Parahaka" and is an early piece by Terry Stringer, a well respected New Zealand bronze caster.
The lidded Oribe Tea Bowl in the top image is unusual as not often do you see lidded tea bowls. It could, of course, be used for soup or food so it is really a dual purpose bowl. The other Shino Tea Bowl is more traditional with its undulating rim and shape.
After visiting Mashiko the next pottery we visited was Kumau Ohta Sans at Koishiwara in Kyushu.. The tea pot and drinking cups were from a very successful firing he had while we were in Japan. The slip decorated soy jar we found at a flea market in Kyoto and is clearly marked with Ohta San's pottery mark.
Well known New Zealand potter, Barry Brickell sadly died on January 23rd.2016. Besides being a very good potter Barry was a conservationist, painter and constructor of the Driving Creek Railway. His railway has brought many tourists from around the world and is a wonderful asset to Coromandel. These two pots of Barry's are from my collection.
