M3 #2

It will likely come as no surprise that I have chosen a pot by Tsukigata Nahiko as my second entry into my museum mentis meae and hopefully my explanation will excuse my personal bias toward the potter. The placement of this mizusashi in an uncluttered, display case gives a visual depth to the pot which as with many pictures, pots can suffer from their intentional austerity or their clutter of every day displays. This simple form was classically employed by Tsukigata Nahiko over the breath of his career, examples date back to the late 1960s and early 70s and run at least until 2001, the last “datable” mizusashi I have encountered of this shape. In defense of my choice, I should also mention that there are two mizusashi that are similar in style to this piece at the Tsukigata Daitobu Museum, one with a ceramic lid and one with a lacquer lid. This particular piece belonged to an advanced collector who shared my interest in the potter where it commingled with a wide array of pottery by mostly Ningen Kokuho and certainly, in my opinion held its own.         

Depicted in my mind’s museum with the help of AI*, this mizusashi is a classic representation and even near perfection of but one of the many specific types of Oni-Shino, the surface is clear, active and even luminescent with areas of ash built up around the entire form and appearing like a tamadare style waterfall cascade at the very front of the form. Among this avenue of Oni-Shino, there is a singularity of nobility present in this pot which Tsukigata choose to name, “Snowy Egret”. With the name, it clearly echoes the regal and naturalistic qualities and there are few better examples where form, surface, firing and concept all have pulled together through experience and serendipity to create a museum level work. As you look beyond the depth of this complex surface, the bones of the pot are pure functional simplicity, cloaked in a lyrical and contemplative visual narration of fire and a coalesced landscape present a near perfect object for the ritual of tea ceremony. In the end, I choose this mizusashi for my museum because of its sustained nobility and its classic character and characteristics of Tsukigata Nahiko, qualities the best pots exude and many pots and potters should aspire to.

“To appreciate the noble is a gain which can never be torn from us.” Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

(*This picture contains an actual image of a pot or pots in an AI generated background or scenario)