Blue and white ceramics seem to have broad popularity no matter what their origins but until recently it has been rare to have an artist declare that they are revisiting this time honoured technique. It is true that now we are starting to see artists focus on this technique1 but for a long while now anything beyond the Willow Pattern was less than acceptable – or perhaps the Willow Pattern made it less than acceptable.

Consequently Kondo Takahiro’s (b.1958) approach of spending ten years re-assessing and revitalizing the technique between 1991 and 1999 may seem out of place except that he has emerged out of the sometsuke (blue and white) tradition in Japan and may have needed to work through this venerable tradition to lead to where he is today. This immersion is not without precedent in the artist’s lineage as his grandfather Kondo Yuzo (1902-1985) was made a living national treasure in 1977 for his blue and white decorated porcelain and his father Kondo Yutaka (1932–1983) has followed this tradition also.

The title of this work reflects some of the artist’s concerns and the breadth of expression he aims to achieve with the blue on white medium. This piece is actually a functional vessel – a vase - but he de-emphasizes this by titling the work as one would title a Western painting. In looking at this vase though it is very painterly with all four sides being treated independently, each as a separate canvas, and yet there is coherence in the patterning that enables the panels to strongly relate. The front and back play with triangles and circles in an abstract configuration but the sides have different geometric patterning of equal tonal value to each other but again different to the front and back. The net result of this sophisticated patterning is a sense of dynamic movement around the form and the creation of a sense of curiosity that compels the viewer to analyse the composition of the decoration. The mouth of the vase rises gently from the shoulder in a manner that does not impact on the four sides but exists to make the vessel functional without emphasizing that it is a functional vessel.

The decorative scheme on the panels is about time and space as the title of the work suggests, this having been a preoccupation of the artists through the many years of the development of this set of works 3. Space in these vessels is about a dark void in the interior of the vase, an apparently infinite space that reveals little of its character but is space nonetheless. The moving shapes with their track marks decorating the main faces are the symbols to convey time as they move through space. The seemingly irrelevant title is indeed laden with meaning.

Even without this depth of analysis what exists is a superb object, a masterwork in porcelain, which reminds us that all techniques and approaches of the past can be reinvigorated thorough re-investigation and the subtle effects of the zeitgeist.