Melkkan van aardewerk, E.J. Birch Black Basalt. Met deksel. c. 1790 - 1810

Editor: This is a Black Basalt earthenware milk jug, crafted by Edmund John Birch around 1790-1810. It has a certain stoic elegance, doesn't it? The dark color is so striking, with those neoclassical figures in relief. What's your take on this piece? Curator: Oh, absolutely! This isn't just a milk jug, it's a miniature monument. The black basalt, almost funereal, elevates the everyday. Think about the Neoclassical period – obsessed with order, reason, and the grandeur of antiquity. But then there's Birch. Editor: Birch? Curator: Exactly. Instead of just mimicking classical forms, he infused a dark and gothic quality with this basalt, imbuing something everyday, functional, like a milk jug, with funerary tones. That juxtaposition, you see, is what grabs me. Are the reliefs directly 'copied' from antique precedents or has Birch reworked those themes and sources, would you say? Editor: Hmmm, reworked, I think! There's a stiffness there, a distance. Less vibrant, more… somber? Curator: Precisely! And the vertical fluting on the body, almost like the pleats of a classical column, grounding the piece, lending that sober gravitas. It feels less about a light breakfast and more about a weighty statement. Editor: So it’s less a celebration of milk and more about mortality lurking behind the teacup? Curator: (Laughs) That’s my dark suspicion, yes! It serves the tea and, unknowingly, hints at the inescapable ephemerality of every experience and person. This work turns domestic, practical into a somber historical reminder. Editor: Well, that’s a breakfast conversation starter, for sure. Thanks, I'll never look at a milk jug the same way again!