Vase 1904

This vase was made by the Van Briggle Pottery Company in 1901, and it sits here in the Met. It's got this celadon glaze, like a muted pea soup, and the clay feels pulled and stretched, you can almost feel the artist's hands coaxing it into existence. I'm trying to imagine the artist at the wheel, or maybe not, because those lilies are like nothing I’ve ever seen thrown on a wheel! Maybe they’re applied? I’m thinking about how the craquelure glaze shimmers, catching the light like a memory. It’s easy to see how Van Briggle was influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement, but there’s something else here too, something about the hand, the touch, the gesture, a conversation across time. This vase speaks of transformation and growth, but also about the way the past gets refigured in the present.