This post is not about wine – but it is about beauty. This is my first post about ceramics in thirteen, count them, years; I just wanted to share some pictures of my first contemporary ceramic acquisition in almost that period.
The pictures are below, but a little piece about this little piece. It is a small porcelain bowl (10cm x 9cm x 5cm) with a devastatingly beautiful grey glaze, and a metallic detail in the centre. It has been hand thrown by Phil Lyddon. About him we are told:
Phil throws and hand-builds in various stoneware clays, making bowls, vases and sculptural forms. However, his main output is concentrated on small-scale porcelain and white stoneware bowls and bottles. They are exclusively hand thrown.
What can I say? It spoke to me. I got it.
Particularly, I love bowls and this glaze has a preternatural allure. For something so small and delicate, it is powerfully poised with seraphic radiance.
This came from The Contemporary Ceramics Gallery near the British Museum in London. If you are unable to get to London easily, they have hundreds of items for sale, at a range of prices, on their website contemporaryceramics.uk. I know all too well that looking at pictures is not the same seeing, as feeling, a piece of ceramic, but their pictures are good!
The pictures below are the ones for this piece that were on their website, although obviously this piece is sold now. I hope WordPress does not compress the pictures to such a degree that the involute nature of the glaze is lost. Click on the pictures to see the full-resolution version open in a new tab, you can zoom in to see the detail – should it survive WordPress!
Obviously, I am willing to open fêtes, launch ships, maybe even kiss babies in exchange for (my choice of) ceramics or vouchers from The Contemporary Ceramics Gallery.
Now give your eyes and aesthetic sensibilities a good time and look at my new bowl.
