A TALE OF TWO SHISHI

I decided to play around photographing this pair of shishi, one ceramic and one bronze and decided on the B&W somber framing for this pair. Both of these pieces have been up on my blog previously but by way of re-introductions, the koro in the background was created by Tsukigata Nahiko and the Shigaraki koro in the foreground was made by Kawai Koji and presents a rather intriguing juxtaposition, a tale of two shishi in gilded bronze and wood fired ceramics. I thought it quite interesting that both are very close to the same size and posture though the weight is significantly different between them. The way in which each shishi vents incense is also very close yet I suspect it is likely a result of the many thousands of archetypes that has proceeded these two potters creations. On a side note, the real inspiration behind this photo other than the fact that I had both koro on hand was from a scene in what I seem to remember as a Charlie Chan movie from the 1940s with Sydney Toler (pardon all the stereotypes). In the film there was a matching set of ancient bronze style koro on either end of a shelf and I couldn't help but be influenced by yet another classic black & white movie after all, there is no hiding that I am a product of both the big and small screens and somewhat partial to a well presented shishi (koro) as well.

"All television is educational television. The question is; what is it teaching?"  Nicholas Johnson