Plate c. 20th century

This pale, celadon plate by Lee Eun-ku has a quiet simplicity, its surface alive with subtle, almost imperceptible variations in color. Can you imagine the artist at the wheel, coaxing this form from a lump of clay, the push and pull of hands shaping its curves? It's easy to picture the care and precision it must have taken. A perfect marriage of form and function. The glaze pools ever so slightly in the corners, creating these soft, luminous edges. And the way the foot of the plate is so subtly flared —it’s almost like a painter’s mark, a whisper of a gesture that brings the whole thing to life. I think about Agnes Martin, and the way she used grids to create these fields of almost-nothingness that were actually full of feeling. This plate has that same quality of quiet intensity. It’s a reminder that beauty can be found in the simplest of things, and that sometimes the most powerful statements are the ones that are whispered, not shouted.