Welcome to Spotted, your Monday roundup of fascinating tidbits from the world of contemporary ceramics and contemporary ceramic art.
You may be familiar with "unboxing" videos on the Internet; usually they're of people unwrapping their new iPhone or video game console. You don't often see them in ceramics, but we have a great one for you today, posted by Christies.
It was on a visit to Liverpool in 1762 that Wedgwood had a chance meeting with Thomas Bentley, a well-travelled and cultivated man who had taken the Grand Tour in 1753. As a business partner Bentley offered Wedgwood not only essential commercial experience but also a deep understanding of changing tastes and market trends. In combination with Wedgwood's inventiveness and deep technical understanding of the art of pottery, Bentley was able to help shape and guide the direction of production.
Together, Wedgwood and Bentley played an important part in the development and expansion of the Trent and Mersey Canal. The success of the canal scheme allowed Wedgwood to expand his manufactory, and he purchased a 350-acre estate through which the canal would pass. The new purpose-built factory and the surrounding estate became known as Etruria, named after the ancient central state in Italy whose arts, most notably pottery, were being rediscovered in archaeological digs at the time.
Prehistoric Pottery from Northwest China, on display through August 14, presents nearly five dozen examples of earthenware ceramics dating from the Neolithic Yangshao culture (5000-3000 B.C.E.)—including delicate bowls and elongated amphorae with textured surfaces, survivors of seven millennia—to the Qijia culture (2200-1600 B.C.E.) and successors, coterminous with the nascent Bronze Age—featuring appealing animate forms, but in some senses surprisingly less refined construction and decoration than that of earlier eras. The sheer antiquity, size, and state of preservation of the objects resonate, as does the sense of discovery that comes from the work under way to understand their creators' communities and cultures, whose existence has been rediscovered only within the past century.
Please read the whole, fascinating writeup on Harvard Magazine. Enjoy these photographs!
Basin with Painted Geometric Decor and Burnished Surface, Chinese, Neolithic period, Majiayao culture, Majiayao phase, 3300–2650 BCE. Earthenware.
Pictures like this one, spotted at New York's Met Museum, warm my heart. It's proof that ancient peoples were just as fun as the people I know. This vase, dating back to 460 BCE, is a drinking vessel shaped like a lobster claw. It's ready for you to tie one on after a hard day of fishing.
Terracotta vase in the form of a lobster claw, Greek and Attic culture, ca 460 BCE, 2 3/4 x 2 7/8 inches. Photographs courtesy of the Met Museum. Click to see a larger image.
Because so many aspects of Greek life depended on the sea, a vase in the shape of a lobster claw is not surprising. It is, however, exceptional and may be a variant of the askos—a bag-shaped oil container provided with a vertical mouth and strap handle. The Dionysiac iconography of the lobster claw suggests that it was a novelty item used at symposia (drinking parties).
Let's take a moment to appreciate partying, and everything it's given culture throughout the centuries.
The top lot of the sales was the 'Oil Spot' Jian Tea Bowl from The Linyushanren Collection, which was sold for $11,701,000, setting a world auction record for a Song dynasty tea bowl. The buyer is a Chinese collector according to various media. The dedicated sale of Collected in America: Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum of Art generated huge international interest and was 100% sold.
Extremely Rare "Oil Spot" Jian Tea Bowl from the Southern Song Dynasty, ca. 1127-1279. Estimate $1.5 -$2.5 million. Sold: $11.7 million.
Last week Garth took my comment that there aren't many ceramics memes as a challenge. A few days later he turned up this gag involving a coffee cup and everyone's favorite self-mutilating artist.
With thanks to Alex Howitt on Facebook.
Meme-ing. It's not an art form… Not yet, anyway.
Do you love or loathe these missives from the world of contemporary ceramics? Let us know in the comments.
One thought on "Spotted | A Wedgwood Unboxing, 5,000 Years of Pottery & More!"
Great to see the Wedgewood vase! I'm in the middle of reading The Potter's Hand by A.N. Wilson which is a fantastically interesting and well- written fictionalised account of Wedgewood's life- extremely well researched, can't recommend it enough!