IDEAL ASTRAY

What could be less complicated and incredibly complicated at the same time than an Ido style chawan? Little else springs to mind where all the elements, lines, posture, curve and kodai all need to work in absolute harmony to create a flawless and near perfect form. Perhaps perfected in anonymity in Korea in the 16th century the potters of Japan especially down south have been fixed on the form idolized by both commoner and lord alike for the elegance and simplicity of form and presentation. In my mind, the Ido bowl is the absolute distillation of creating function with unmatched aesthetics where the beauty is that simplicity, grace, nobility and at its core utility.     

One modern Japanese potter that has spent a lifetime dedicated to an ideal and archetype is Tsujimura Shiro and this chawan is a classic example of stripping a utilitarian form to its barest necessities of wall, lip, pool and foot with some glaze thrown in for good measure and ease of use and with the ideal astray he crafts his own vision of modern Ido-wan. In this example Tsujimura has strayed slightly from the purest Ido ideal to create a triadic style wari-kodai where the glaze has curdled a bit creating a wonderful texture in more ways than one. Perhaps one of the more interesting features of this chawan is the combination of a static bowl shape with a lip and foot that are animated and in motion creating a visual like the bands of atmosphere circling some gas giant a light year away, this is where Tsujimura excels and with any luck will hit upon the perfection he seeks the next time he sits at the wheel.