Archive for March, 2016

Copper lustre jug with blue bands, c.1840

Saturday, March 26th, 2016

This copper lustre blue-banded pottery jug, decorated with polychrome relief birds and flowers, stands 6.25 inches high and 8 inches from handle to spout. It was made in England in the mid 1800s.

After the handle broke off, sometime in the 19th century, it was taken to a tinker who fashioned an overscaled metal replacement handle with crimped edges, and ample finger and thumb rests. The remains of the lower handle terminal were left on the jug so the tinker just went around it when he did his repair.

Copper lustre decorated wares originated in the 9th century and were first made by Islamic potters. Inspired by these early pieces, English pottery houses, including Spode and Wedgwood, developed their own techniques, starting at the beginning of the 19th century and continuing to around 1860. Although highly collectible for decades, lustreware has recently fallen out of favor and can now be purchased for a fraction of what it once sold for.

This jug, identical in form and decoration, shows what the original handle on mine looked like before it broke off.

Photo courtesy of Ruby Lane.

NCECA conference 2016

Saturday, March 19th, 2016

Yesterday I had the pleasure of giving a talk at the NCECA conference in Kansas City, MO. I wasn’t prepared for seeing over 5,500 artists, curators, students and ceramic enthusiasts at the convention center and at various galleries, nor the abundance of the wonderful work on display and for sale.

Breaking (no pun intended) tradition from my weekly postings of inventive repairs, I am showing just a few of my favorite pieces, all perfectly intact. But after my lecture on the art of inventive repair, I am hoping some of these artists and others will be inspired to repair their own work, just in case the inevitable happens.

Mariko Paterson, Bird Brain, Bird Vain, 2016

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Lorna Meaden, Punch Bowl, 2016

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Kevin Snipes, Numbers, 2016

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Steven Young Lee, Maebyeong Vasw with Fish Decoration

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Richard Notkin, Brave New Old World

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Kristen Cliffel, Welcome Friends, 2012

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Jessica Brandl, Struggle and Strive, 2015

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Michelle Summers, Untitled Series, 2015

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Shari McWilliams, Octomug, 2013

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Stapled crystal decanter, c.1830

Sunday, March 13th, 2016

This cut crystal spirit decanter has panel cut shoulders, a single neck ring and a splayed top. It appears to be late Georgian, made in Ireland or England. It measures 8-1/2 inches high and is missing its mushroom form stopper.

Although it is not unusual to find cracked porcelain repairs with metal staples, glassware repaired in the same manner is less common. These metal staples made of thin wire repair a vertical crack on both sides, giving it the appearance of a laced corset.

This decanter with similar form has its original stopper but is without staple repairs. Guess which one I prefer?

https://www.1stdibs.com

Photo courtesy of 1stdibs

Bisque doll with wooden legs, c.1890

Sunday, March 6th, 2016

This small doll made of tinted bisque (unglazed porcelain) was made in Germany in the late 1800s and measures 5 inches long. It was owned by my cousin-in-law Carol, who got it from her mother, a doll collector with an impressive collection. Carol believes that her mother made the hand crocheted outfit and that her great-grandfather made wood replacement legs after the original ones shattered.

Not surprisingly, there seems to be a large number of broken vintage toys with inventive repairs out there. China and bisque were the predominant materials used for making children’s tea sets, dolls, and other fragile toys, so naturally they would end up chipped, cracked and broken.

I think Carol’s great-grandfather did a fine job whittling and painting this sturdy pair of wood legs to replace the broken originals.

This is what the original bisque legs on Carol’s doll might have looked like before Geppetto whittled a new pair.

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Photo courtesy of Ruby Lane