Pontifex Maximus Imperial Yellow Nuritate * Philosophical Instruments

 The Pontifex Maximus is the first fountain pen model. In Latin, Pontifex means "bridge-builder". Made in Belgium from Japanese ebonite and featuring a Japanese eyedropper filling system, this oversized fountain pen is a well balanced writing instrument and offers a generous canvas for urushi and maki-e artwork.

 For the first nuritate fountain pen Imperial Yellow was chosen. Like the symbolism of this earthy yet refined color suggests, its mustard yellow hue will age beautifully and become more bright with the years. Yellow was also the official color of the Belgian racing cars at the beginning of the previous century and therefore we thought this color particularly fitting for a recurring line of Philosophical Instruments. For the Imperial Yellow the nuritate method is used in which the final urushi layer is left unpolished. Whereas typically for nuritate a certain amount of oil is added to the urushi, our very matte finish is achieved by not adding any oil at all. The less oil is added, the more skill is required; not using any oil is very challenging and therefore very rare. Upon close inspection, the artisan's brush strokes can be seen and add to the individual character of each fountain pen. 

 The urushi fountain pens are created in collaboration with Urushi Atelier Netherlands, where a small team of highly skilled Japanese urushi artisans is led by Dave van Gompel, the only Western graduate of the lacquerware department of the prestigious Tokyo University of the Arts. The studio prides itself in using urushi exclusively and does not employ a mixture of natural and synthetic coatings.