Tuesday 11 January 2011

More on Eva Zeisel

I think these shapes look great the way they sit together - just like a family group
Her forms are often abstractions of the natural world and human relationships
These lay reference to my previous idea of 'squashing' pots together but still being able to use them individually

Moon Jars again

I'm back looking at Moon Jars again as I just love Adam Buick's work.
This one is from the British Museum
'This jar is a magnificent example of the ceramic art of the Choson dynasty (1392-1910). At this time, plain white porcelain represented the epitome of austere Confucian taste. As the scholar Yi Kyu-gyong wrote, 'the greatest merit of white porcelain lies in its absolute purity'.'
The jar also testifies to the admiration of two of the greatest twentieth-century British potters for Korean wares. It was bought in an antique shop in Seoul by Bernard Leach (1887-1979) in 1935, on one of his visits from Japan. He gave it to Lucie Rie (1902-95), who on her death bequeathed it to Janet Leach. The British Museum acquired it from her estate in 1999. They also acquired a letter from Bernard Leach to Rie, in which he asks her to collect the jar from a friend's house and look after it during the Second World War (1939-45). In the event, when Leach saw the jar in Rie's studio, he decided that it should remain there. A portrait by Lord Snowdon shows Rie, dressed all in white herself, seated beside the pot.
 Excerpt  from the British Museum
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/asia/w/white_porcelain_moon_jar.aspx