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There is a distinct difference between mastery and perfection.
Mastery traditionally connotes recognition. (I.E. via a guild), in this case the recognition of other writers and readers.
Perfection is simply the state of being without fault.
In the case of the art of writing, perfection is impossible. While grammatical perfection may be attainable, creative perfection is still subjective and thus imperfectable.
There is nothing wrong with being a perfectionist, but a writer can be perfect in their style, grammar, etc and never be recognized as a master. Several of the writers recognized for their mastery in literature were imperfect grammatically or stylistically.
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Mastery comes with time, practice and experience. True mastery involves knowing not just one thing, but the things related to it.
In other words, by practicing writing in different ways, styles and genres one increases the chance for becoming a master. Of course, this implies that the person spends time writing and reading and critiquing and studying. Mostly though, this is by writing. Everything and anything and learning from successes and mistakes.
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Mastery is a matter of being able to use the craft to do exactly what you want with it. So, a master writer could write anonymously and have a profound and intentional effect on the literary world, even the world at large.
True, such mastery will usually be recognized by somebody eventually...though in the wild world of the internet it would be quite possible for someone to be spreading anonymous but masterfully written memes through a variety of seemingly unconnected sites (and no I don't know anyone doing this). The point is that the purpose of gaining such a mastery would have nothing to do with having gaining personal recognition or even having the mastery itself recognized at large.
On a different note, I've found that many of my favorite books become even better the more I learn. So that's another (completely non-sinister) reason for mastery aside from gaining recognition. That's not just true of writing. Lot's of different kinds of mastery enhance the master's ability to appreciate and enjoy another's art.
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