M3 #2

It will likely come as no surprise that I have chosen a pot by Tsukigata Nahiko as my second entry into my museum mentis meae and hopefully my explanation will excuse my personal bias toward the potter. The placement of this mizusashi in an uncluttered, display case gives a visual depth to the pot which as with many pictures, pots can suffer from their intentional austerity or their clutter of every day displays. This simple form was classically employed by Tsukigata Nahiko over the breath of his career, examples date back to the late 1960s and early 70s and run at least until 2001, the last “datable” mizusashi I have encountered of this shape. In defense of my choice, I should also mention that there are two mizusashi that are similar in style to this piece at the Tsukigata Daitobu Museum, one with a ceramic lid and one with a lacquer lid. This particular piece belonged to an advanced collector who shared my interest in the potter where it commingled with a wide array of pottery by mostly Ningen Kokuho and certainly, in my opinion held its own.         

Depicted in my mind’s museum with the help of AI*, this mizusashi is a classic representation and even near perfection of but one of the many specific types of Oni-Shino, the surface is clear, active and even luminescent with areas of ash built up around the entire form and appearing like a tamadare style waterfall cascade at the very front of the form. Among this avenue of Oni-Shino, there is a singularity of nobility present in this pot which Tsukigata choose to name, “Snowy Egret”. With the name, it clearly echoes the regal and naturalistic qualities and there are few better examples where form, surface, firing and concept all have pulled together through experience and serendipity to create a museum level work. As you look beyond the depth of this complex surface, the bones of the pot are pure functional simplicity, cloaked in a lyrical and contemplative visual narration of fire and a coalesced landscape present a near perfect object for the ritual of tea ceremony. In the end, I choose this mizusashi for my museum because of its sustained nobility and its classic character and characteristics of Tsukigata Nahiko, qualities the best pots exude and many pots and potters should aspire to.

“To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(*This picture contains an actual image of a pot or pots in an AI generated background or scenario)

WBW

So, here is an oldie for a way back Wednesday post. I can’t actually say I remember when this fully functional teapot was made but I was going through this phase of myths and mythology imagery around 92/93. I can also say that this hunting centaur teapot was more than likely made for a show but there in ends the details of when though I can say it was made in University Heights (Cleveland). As for specifics, this was slab-built terra cotta and slips under a thin clear glaze using the abstract background and silhouettes inspired by ancient Greek pottery as well as the myths of Greece and ancient Rome. If memory serves me, these teapots were mostly large, perhaps close to 15” long, 13” tall and about 3.5” in width. This time period is also when I stated notching out the handle for a thumb rest which usually coincides with the sweeping curves of the knob of the lid, I liked that confluence of movement. At any rate, this myth teapot was from way back when my hand building was in its very nascent stages so judge accordingly though I should probably say, I am not sure it has really progressed much further along after all these years except perhaps in my mind.

COMPLETE

As odd as it may sound, especially considering I would never use a chawan I have collected, I can’t look at a pot without thinking of Rosanjin’s concept that a pot is complete only while being used or in use. To that end and complete with my small inventory of faux flowers, here is an Iga vase complete through its colorful red and white arrangement adding a sense of fait accompli. This rather sturdy, squared up Iga vase was made and fired by Kojima Kenji with some of his tell-tail characteristics including his addition of quirky lugs or ears and a fired surface that at least to my eye is just a bit unlike that of any other working potter. The form is all purpose with some perfect additions of the potter’s marks and a rolled up or over foot that gives a visual and actual sense of stability needed to off set the weight of flowers or a branch, cantilevered off to the side. Though I find Kojima’s pots thoughtful and an excellent blend of form, function and aesthetics, I must admit, this pot with or without flowers real or imagined, is about as complete as they come.

E&G

Illustrated is what at first glance could be confused with the somewhat ubiquitous Toruko-ao guinomi under a full moon by Kato Kenji but in this instance, this is a less frequently encountered chawan. Over the years I have seen quite a number of vase and varying guinomi forms but this is only the second chawan that I have personally had the pleasure to handle. This particular chawan is a natsu-wan, a summer chawan in Kato’s transparent soda blue style with vivid, black decoration creating alternating panels around the bowls interior and simple banding around the lip and exterior of the bowl. The glaze stops abruptly short of the kodai showcasing the natural coloration of the reddish clay which stands in a stark contrast to the blue though very complimentary. On a rather personal note, I am rarely surprised by scale and volume but despite measuring just shy of 14cm, this both has a compact and almost fragile appearance. The low bowl does not contain “heaps” of volume but has an elegant and graceful sensibility, quite diametrically opposed to your average Kumano chawan, I must say. In the end, the proportions of this bowl are just classic in nature, without the context, could it be a chawan or a guinomi, either way it works quite well. 

RETRO SET

I’ll start out by saying I am not sure why this photographed this color as in person it is a richer, more vibrant soda blue like all the other pieces I posted. At any rate, this was a shadow set of a retro tea set that I made a while back in which I made two of each piece and this was what was left over. The general concept was a soda blue set based on a retro feel using the bamboo form for the water jar, teabowl and tea jar. The combed surface and the ridges make for excellent glaze collection areas creating a distinct look across the set and the small tea jar was finished off with a white lid to simulate the ivory of original Japanese chaire. In discussing this set, the original idea was for the tea jar to fit in the teabowl and the teabowl to fit in the water jar but the scale got a little out of hand so this was what was decided on in the end. I have to admit, I like the general concept of the pieces nesting into one another and may try that one of these days but the proportions of these three pieces fit the needs of the owner and as is, theywork well together and that is as good as it gets.

JUST A BOX

Well, to be honest, today was quite the day and not in a good way. The sun has given way to night and tomorrow will be another day which is bound to be a bit better. I basically ran out of time and thought posting this large, classic covered box by Kawai Takeichi would make for a simple and interesting post, I hope you agree.

M3

I have been thinking about posting periodically on my blog, a feature that in some respects I would consider a museum display conjured from my own mind, pots curated for their significance for this museum mentis meae (M3). Before you think I have gone completely daffy, what I have become curious about is of the pots that I handle and have pictures sent to me, which ones would actually be museum worthy and to what level, a large national venue or a smaller, more regional location, certainly a fair number qualify for gallery shows of a particular potter or as a link within a retrospective show irrespective of the venue. Together with this odd idea, rather than be totally left in the dust regarding AI, I can now in some small measure put this idea to the test, creating AI generated images using actual photos that I have access to, the bulk of which I have taken myself. I have debated for some time doing this, fearing it seems either naïve or even childish but since these social media posts are really more for me than the audience, I concluded, why not, post a few and see where that goes and where it may lead.          

For my first entry*, here is a wonderful ash and Shino tokkuri by Kowari Tetsuya. This piece belongs to a European collector but I decided to use this picture because of Kowari’s work, this form and surface are simply stellar and classic, indicative to a time-period from the mid-2010s to present. The articulated form, Kowari’s rather idiosyncratic construction of the tokkuri, speak to the very highest level of his work and when placed in this AI museum environment, the piece simply looks at home. To my eye, there are no real questions as to it belonging on display, it represents the top level of the work as I would judge a pot; concept, form, surface and gesture/posture. Once those hurdles are met, to my mind, it is clear that the pot differs significantly than a great majority of extant work and earns its place among the upper percentages of a body of work. Is this all just some exhaustive exercise and am I in any position to make any of these determinations? Maybe you would disagree but in my mind museum, this Kowari Tetsuya is perpetually on display and this isolated and uncluttered photo is exactly how I see it whenever I care to bring it to mind.    

(*This picture contains an actual image of a pot or pots in an AI generated background or scenario)

SOME LEVEL

I keep working on my saffron, iron yellow glaze, trying to get some level of consistency and dependability from it. This is one of those yunomi tests, thick kushime combed slip with the iron yellow glaze over. On this particular test, one of a half dozen, the glaze was used a bit thinner than normal and this was the results, it had still run mostly off the upper half and collected around the apron of the piece, running diagonally and building up. I think at the end of all this, the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel and success at some level, these results will just tell me, this surface is going to be whatever it wants, work however it wants and as long as it stays on the pot, who am I to argue. 

RECENT ARRIVAL

I first saw this salt fired henko quite some while ago on Facebook and after discussing it with a fellow collector across the pond, I decided it should be rehomed at its earliest convenience. I was initially struck by the sheer simplicity of the form and surface, it would seem to be devoid of any superfluous detail or additions relying on a strong form, a few lines of slip and cobalt and a fine sheen of salt to breathe life and movement into its clay. This was made by Susukida Koji (1945-2015) and fits well within his body of slipped work and salt fired pottery. As you can see in this sunlit picture, the salt has created a soft, pebbly texture over the applied decoration which reminds me of lyrical, even poetic calligraphy. In fact, I have begun referring to this bottle as the ‘getsu-henko”, the moon vase as the way the decoration appears on each side reminds me of the kanji for moon, getsu/ tsuki and though I am sure others will see what they will on this scroll (kakejiku) like planes, I see a casual mastery of calligraphy spelled out in liquid clay and cobalt brushwork.

PINE BARK & RAIN

Illustrated is a rather well fired Shigaraki chawan by Minagawa Takashi, son of Kiyotaka and pupil of Komori Shoan. The bowl is broad and the lift makes it appear a bit like it is floating just off the surface which adds a nice touch to the visual. The bowl was thrown and then a Matsukawa-hada style texture was impressed or beaten into the surface giving the bowl a lot of visual and actual texture that has an immediacy to it. This bowl wants to be held, fondled even to fill in any and all blanks you may have from the encounter which is typical of much of Minagawa Takashi’s work. As you can see, much of the bowls exterior has a perpetually wet sheen baked into the all-natural ash surface which in my book is a plus, the interior shows a dazzling pool of ash and lends itself quite enthusiastically to use. The lip may look a bit blunt, it is perfectly formed for use with tea or any other liquid you can impress into service and the foot makes for a simple, effective and ideal pedestal made for stability and another enjoyable feature while resting in the hand.     

This chawan was photographed a short while back while it seemed like there would never be any sunlight again. I took a number of the “Hollywood back drop” style photos of which this is one of them. It occurs to me that without some context, the background may be a bit iffy to figure out and so a degree of explanation is in order. During a torrential downpour during last spring, I opened the side window and decided to shoot the rain using the fastest shutter speed possible on my primitive and outdated camera and of the photos, this particular shot intrigued me the most and I decided to use it as a backdrop moving forward. It may seem a bit odd but I have noticed that it tends to make pots, chawan mostly look a bit like they are quite three dimensional so, not such a random photo after all, I hope you agree.