MOONLIGHT

Illustrated is a very early Tsukigata Nahiko carved and painted (gofun?) wood panel, the photo comes out of a catalogue from the early 1970s. Reading "moonlight" this panel has a chipped away texture that surrounds the two kanji and signature which pop off the panel due to the bright white nature of the pigment used to highlight the recessed carving. Over the years I have seen a number of Tsukigata Nahiko carved panels and though they were never as expensive as his best pottery work, one can imagine the time and effort needed to carve and finish these panels made them out of the reach for most collectors during his lifetime.

The majority of panels that I have seen seem to run about 80 to 100cm in length and are carved out of dense, unfinished wood "planks" for lack of a better term with fairly deep recessed carving in the thick and heavy wood. I am not sure how well one's sculpting ability translates to wood carving but Tsukigata also carved stone as evidenced by large carved stone steles on his studio property, presumably a skill he learned in part from his father. There are three distinct styles of Tsukigata's wood panels, the first is as you see here where the decoration or calligraphy is in sunken relief, the next being where he painted black or white ink or pigment directly on a flat surface and lastly, raised relief where the imagery seems to float above the base which has been carved away. What I can tell you is that despite the panel being a bit stiff, not nearly as organic as later pieces this particular panel is a benchmark of some amazing things to come.