Quite a few years back my wife and I were at a
museum show of gemstones and in the exhibition was a large emerald crystal that
was absolutely radiant and just full of energy, I have always suspected that
her interest in wood fired pieces with sheets of glassy ash and bidoro possibly
stems from that momentary experience. I recently had a chance to handle a very
medieval style Iga mizusashi that had a great surface inside and out as this
photo of the ringed emerald pool of fractured, glassy ash will attest. To get a
perspective, the center of the bottom is slightly pushed up which creates an
unintentional but vivid channel that encircles the entire interior ring with
this rich, emerald ash making for a most welcome surprise when the lid is
removed. I am constantly amazed at how much this simple style of pooled, melted
ash and some emerald crystals have in common visually from the intensity and
depth of color to the fractured nature of the structure making for a rather
intense experience.
"Simplicity is the most difficult thing to
secure in the world; it is the last limit of experience and the last effort of
genius." George Sand (Amantine
Lucile Aurore Dupin 1804-1876)
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