HOME PHOTOS

Setting aside the color difference between catalogue and home photo for a moment, when I first saw this Tsukigata Nahiko chawan my assumption is that it was heavily used and soiled which certainly gave me more than a moment's pause. However, just after seeing this chawan I received a very nice exhibition portfolio in which the chawan was illustrated and it clearly shows all of the accentuated crazing right out of the proverbial box, the lines are all iron rich and quite natural under closer inspection. I had never seen this technique used by Tsukigata before and the fact that there are three chawan, a mizusashi and a teoke hanaire all in this style means that it is something he was quite familiar and comfortable with. What I can tell from the photos is that this is a classic, mature chawan by Tsukigata with his inviting, waisted form that is comfortable to the hand with a soft, rounded kodai that rests well in palm and a lip with the slightest of undulation that calls to the eye and to be drunk from.

This leads me to the color of the chawan which appears differently in all three photos that I have seen of this piece which is clearly defined as "crimson Shino". Despite the title of the piece, the true color is a crimson toned (?) rich coral color and was first decorated in iron, dipped in a thin coat of the glaze and then redipped in a more hap-hazard manner to affect the variations of the surface inside and out. As I am constantly reminded, it may not be a chawan for everyone but it is a rather poetic piece that further enriched the overall oeuvre of Tsukigata Nahiko and his pursuit for every possibility a new tradition has to offer.