Jar with lid c. mid 20th century

This Jar with Lid by Lobi sits in the Minneapolis Institute of Art, though we don't know exactly when it was made. What grabs me is the tactile quality, row after row of these tiny, pointed protrusions, almost like it's daring you to touch it. It’s made of clay, so it’s literally grounded. I'm thinking about the texture – how each little point has its own shadow, creating this overall pattern that’s both regular and slightly off, like a handmade textile. There's this incredible sense of repetition and labor in it, a meditative process of making these marks, one by one. There’s something really primal about it, like a seed pod or some kind of ancient artifact. I think about the work of Lucie Rie, who also elevated the everyday vessel to something truly special and unique through a labor intensive artistic process. Ultimately, it’s this ambiguity, between the functional and the purely artistic, that makes it so compelling.