Thursday, February 16, 2006

Chinese pottery speaks for itself

There's a reason we call nice dinnerware 'China': Chinese pottery is the best.

Qing pottery dazzles with vibrant colors. But strip that away, and what do you have? Well, you still have impressive detail as this celadon piece dating from the 18th century shows:



However, I prefer the more elegant Song style of pottery shown in this celadon jar dating from around 1127 to 1279:

The green is so deep in the smoothness of the Song piece that you think you could just walk right into it, whereas the detail in the Qing piece keeps your eye at the surface.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think this post is highly incendiary. I hope you realize what a Pandora's box you're opening here.

Maybe we should reformulate your StarWars rule #17 - "Two people in a room, when one attacks StarWars, the other will defend" to "two people in a room, one starts talking about pottery, the other will be bored."

That was a very nice china dvd you put together, but if I'm to refrain from making dumb comments like "Gee, I'd like to drink soup out of that one" I think pottery is best contemplated alone and in private. Maybe with a little soft music and candlelight.
"Marge, I'd like to be alone with the china for a little while, please."