There
are a number of things that cat owners are painfully aware of from stuff
suddenly gone missing to let's see if I can push this off the edge, the latter
of which is particularly hazardous in a house full of pottery. I will start by
saying that with Khan there has yet to be any incident and with Jun there was
only one where I left a tall teapot in the middle of the floor and then was
called away by the telephone, you can imagine the outcome, that being said,
cats make far better pottery than photography assistants. I am fortunate to
have pots come my way to study, photograph and occasionally sell for collectors
but I also have a responsibility to safeguard the pot and send it where ever it
is intended in the same condition I encountered it in, in others words, eternal
vigilance is the rule of the day. I recently had a large hachi style mizusashi
show up by Kumano Kuroemon which I carefully unpacked and then placed on a
shelf and in the moment that it took to get my camera, the ribbon thief
appeared like a ninja stalking a medieval Japanese castle wall. Khan, like most
cats is especially fond of string, rope, ribbon and box cord (himo) and loves
the little tufts at the ends which he can be seen going for as I was walking in
with camera at the ready. I gently encouraged him out of the room and took the
pictures of the mizusashi before packing up the box and packing material and
placing them out of the reach of Khan, I can still hear him wailing away
outside the door.
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