Orthus

A sculpture of the two-headed dog Orthus, assembled from two broken 18th-century Blanc de Chine porcelain hounds and placed on a wooden base in a steel case. Bouke de Vries found the broken porcelain dogs in an auction house; they belonged to the owner of the auction house but were dropped by one of his employees. Bouke reinterpreted the broken ceramics, giving them new life and meaning.

Courtesy of the private collection of Miles Chapman

● Type: Sculpture
● Material: Porcelain, mixed media
● Date: 2017

In Greek mythology (according to the mythographer Apollodorus), Orthus was a two-headed dog, a brother of Cerberus, the three-headed dog guarding Hades. Orthus guarded Geryon’s cattle and was killed by Heracles.

Porcelain VirtuosityExhibition