In many respects if you are
navigating New York we live almost in the exact middle, the crossroads of where
ever you may be traveling in the State and on the odd occasion I have had
people drop by for a little bit of show and tell knowing my approximate
coordinates. In this particular instance, a collector/dealer emailed and we
arranged for a quick fly-by to show me a couple of pots that he couldn't
identify and wanted what input I could offer. The pots were two nice pieces, a
Bizen chawan, no box and a large porcelain hakuji tsubo which had its original
box. The chawan was easy to identify despite the lack of box as was the tsubo
though as you can see from the photo Khan was very pleased that it had its
original tomobako and immediately made himself home in it never missing an opportunity to
inject himself in to the conversation. This is a rather common practice for
Khan though few boxes end up large enough to swallow him whole though undaunted there are times when he is trying his best to settle down for a short
nap in a chawan box. I am not sure if you can see from the photo butone side of the box had become unglued so
before he left I drilled the corner, reglued the edges and put in two new wood
pins to stabilize the box. It was an unexpected pleasure to handle the pots,
especially the tsubo (more photos at a later date) but I suspect the real
pleasure was all Khan's. "In ancient times cats were worshipped as
gods, they have not forgotten this." Terry Pratchett
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