Honami Kōetsu

Japan · 1558–1637

Hon'ami Kōetsu was a Japanese calligrapher, craftsman, lacquerer, potter, landscape gardener, connoisseur of swords and a devotee of the tea ceremony. His works are generally considered to have inspired the founding of the Rinpa school of painting. Robert Hughes of Time Asia wrote that in Japan, Kōetsu is "a national treasure several times over, about as famous there as Benvenuto Cellini is in the West", even though in the United States he is "scarcely known".