CLASSIC TAMBA

A while back I had a number of intermittent opportunities to takes some photos while still getting work done in the studio and around the yard and house. I had this particular Tamba mizusashi on the shelves and as luck would have the timing of both the sun and my spare moment produced one half of this photo collage and in the interest of full disclosure, I am also showing a more traditional picture to give a comprehensive idea of form and surface . As the titles implies this is a rather classic mizusashi by one of the pioneers of the modern Tamba tradition, Nishibata (or Nishihata if you prefer) Sueharu which is as simple as it gets in form, lid and firing. despite the simple execution this exemplary firing has produced a bold, animated and rather exciting surface focusing on the vertical gravity of the running ash. The rich, medieval narrative painted by fire in ash makes for a rather elemental, even primal pot, a pot that caters to function but doesn't lack in the eye appeal either in either light source. In some respects by studying this pot and surface it is abundantly clear where Nishibata Tadashi and his son Daibi, now deceased , have learned a lesson or two from Sueharu, like father, like son (and grandson).