I recently received an
unboxed chawan that was sent to me to try to uncover who had made it. The bowl
was bought in Shigaraki in the mid-1980s and the owner had absolutely no recollection
of the maker. It is a stout and well fired bowl but the mark was entirely covered
over in natural ash glaze rendering it next to impossible to read. I had it on
my desk, in front of the computer and I was using a 20 power loop to try to get
a read on the mark and was getting no where so I pulled out my digital camera
and set it on the highest resolution and just as I was to take the picture, my
current research assistant and pottery helper decided he wanted a shot at it himself.
In a proverbial, "I am ready for my close up" moment, instead of the
bowl I ended up with an in your face photo of Khan the curious. Though he
didn't help me uncover the maker, the use of the hi-rez picture did and I was
able to determine the chawan was made by Furutani Churoku. It would have been
much easier if I had the box or bio, but getting to the bottom of the matter was
still made just a bit more fun with the aid of an inquisitive and curious
feline.
"There are two means of
refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats." Albert Schweitzer
(1875-1965)
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