The small dish, about 8.5cm across, is from the Leach pottery in St Ives.
In the 1920s Bernard Leach brought Japanese ceramic techniques and ideas back to Cornwall where he built his pottery with Shoji Hamada, helping to establish the British studio pottery movement in the process.
Although the tradition of hanami (flower viewing parties) sees millions of Japanese visiting cherry trees it is thought to have started with plum blossom, a traditional symbol of spring and good fortune. The flowers here are plum blossom, from a tree I planted and which provides us with fruit every year.
Even the background continues the theme, being the rather battered cover of a notebook from the Japanese no-brand retailer Muji.The whole encompasses the principle of mono no aware, the idea that all things must pass, an idea that applies to us as much as to the blossom.
As part of the Exploring Collections course I have been composing photographs using items from the Glenside Museum Collection.