A SIMPLE CASE OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY

I got a rather excited email the other day from a guy I have known for years, he doesn't collect pottery, rather he is interested in kodogu, sword fittings and metalwork. He very proudly told me he had found a rather remarkable chawan and since he was on the road, he had mailed it to me as a gift and I should have it in just a few days. A man of his word, the package arrived two days latter and was in a good size parcel so there was no tip off to what was to come. As I unpacked the piece, it was double boxed and I began to get a bit nervous as it was beginning to feel like I was dealing with one of those Matryoshka doll sets with ever layer revealed, the packing got smaller and smaller until I was holding the illustrated chawan. Now in fairness, the individual that sent it is not a Japanese pottery collector so there needs to be a bit of lattitude in regards to the pot he sent which turned out to be a rather small wood box with a guinomi residing within. Though as I unpacked the package that was sent my initial feeling that I had choosen door number three on Let's Make A Deal faded as I opened the wood box and took out the rather wonderful Iga guinomi any of that disappointment faded away. As one can guess, it can be a bit dangerous to let the mind wander as it is easy to have such unreasonable expectations as to be let down no matter the outcome but I can say in this instance, once opened I couldn't have asked for a finer little pot from a rather thoughtful collector.

"We love to expect, and when expectation is either disappointed or gratified, we want to be again expecting." Samuel Johnson