Though
not exactly the correct quote from OLIVER TWIST, I suspect you get the idea and
it is a fitting sentiment when it comes to ink paintings, washes and
calligraphy by potters, a medium I am particularly fond of as I suspect it give
you a glimpse of how they see their work. In this case I found another
landscape chawan ink wash by Juyo Mukei Bunkazai, Arakawa Toyozo depicting one
of his famous E-Shino style teabowls with a Momoyama-esque underglaze ink
painting rendered in what would appear to be iron pigment. Like the others of
this style that I have seen, the painting is fast, direct without any waste of
superfluous details to capture the true spirit in ink what his clay does for
his pottery. I have seen several chawan with accompanying kakejiku scrolls over
the years and though this seems to be more of a generalized chawan as a two
dimensional rendering, I am still holding out hope that just one of these days,
Santa or some other questionable figure will put me and a similar three
dimensional chawan at the same place at the same time (as in ownership!); well one can hope
anyway.
.JPG)