Il Duca's Max Rimensi has, of late, carved iterations of the Pot that play fast and loose with the shape chart classic, presenting forms that sit midway between the Billiard's stolid cousin and the more elegant and graceful Prince. Here he goes a step further again, raising the waistline to well above the transition to incorporate elements of the Acorn and lending the bowl a perched-like posture — especially when combined with the slender, almost pencil width proportions of the shank and stem. Given a wildly organic sandblast and dressed in one of Max's more vibrant contrast stains — a burnt ochre hue interspersed by darker browns — it's paired to a brindled salmon and black vulcanite stem and a three knuckle stretch of black bamboo, with the combination of shaping and finish giving the impression that this piece was plucked directly from nature rather than deftly carved in Max's workshop.

— Adam M O'Neill