Trekpot mobilisatie 1939 c. 1939

This ceramic teapot was made in 1939 by N.V. Porselein- en Tegelfabriek Mosa, and it’s just calling out to me. It looks like it has been dipped in pale gray paint, like it’s camouflaged. The whole thing is a solid block, which makes the handle appear more like an afterthought. A soldier with a helmet for a lid. The world etched into its belly. You could say that the world is at its fingertips, but also perhaps a massive weight, that the war has come to sit at the table during teatime. The form of the teapot is what gets me. It's soft and rounded, but firm and strong. Teapots have historically been associated with comfort, but this one has a purpose to fulfil. I see some connections with the work of someone like George Ohr, a ceramicist who had an unusual approach and a lot of humour. Art allows us to explore complex ideas, in this case, how something as gentle as tea becomes an act of resistance.