# Kataro Shirayamadani artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/kataro-shirayamadani/
Profile generated: 2026-05-24T03:07:27.331Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Nationality: Japanese, American
- Movements: American Art Pottery, Arts and Crafts Movement, Art Nouveau
- Common media: Ceramic earthenware, Porcelain, Glazed pottery

## About Kataro Shirayamadani

Kataro Shirayamadani (1865–1948) was a Japanese-born ceramic decorator who became one of the most celebrated artists associated with Rookwood Pottery in Cincinnati, Ohio. Joining the firm in 1887, Shirayamadani painted decorative ceramics there for over six decades, remaining until his death in 1948. His work bridges Japanese aesthetic traditions and the American Arts and Crafts movement, producing pieces recognized for their refined glazes, botanical subjects, and fluid brushwork. Also recorded as Kitaro Shirayamadani in some catalogues, he is documented in the Getty Union List of Artist Names as a Japanese ceramics decorator active in the United States. Collectors encounter his work most often through Rookwood vases, plaques, and painted earthenware that appear at major American decorative-arts auctions.

## Common works and media

Shirayamadani's auction and appraisal footprint consists primarily of hand-painted Rookwood earthenware vases, plaques, and bowls decorated in Standard Glaze, Vellum Glaze, and other Rookwood glaze lines. Common subjects include floral and botanical compositions, landscapes, portraits, and Japanese-influenced decorative motifs. His work is most frequently encountered as individual vases and wall plaques, though tea sets, jardinieres, and sculptural forms also appear. Pieces are identified by the Rookwood company mark combined with Shirayamadani's painted artist cipher.

## Market and appraisal context

Shirayamadani-decorated Rookwood pieces appear regularly at auction, with over 270 recorded lots. Value depends on the specific glaze line (Standard, Vellum, Tiger Eye), quality and complexity of the painted decoration, form and scale, and condition of the ceramic body and glaze surface. Works with strong provenance, such as pieces from documented Rookwood collections or museum deaccessions, tend to achieve higher results. Attribution should be confirmed by the artist's painted cipher on the piece, as Rookwood employed many decorators with varying market profiles.

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine artist identity research from authority files and museum sources with auction records, auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Kataro Shirayamadani, identity data is grounded in the Getty ULAN, VIAF, and Wikidata authority records.

## Sources

- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6375179
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kataro_Shirayamadani
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500335489
- VIAF: https://viaf.org/viaf/299955702/
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2007059545