Vanitas II

Vanitas II bone china vase was slip cast, bisque fired and then painted on by hand with a resist. An industrial sandblaster was then used as an etching tool to eat away at the ceramic before the final firing. Through this method, the decoration becomes integral to the body of the vase, rather than just being applied to the surface. The pattern forms the vase's structure, with the other areas appearing to be eroded. Depending on the amount of deterioration, parts of the vase may start to peel, distort and collapse during the final kiln firing, giving the delicate feeling of being "on the turn": held just at the point of decay.

● Type: Vase
● Dimensions: 27 H x 19 Ø cm
● Material: Bone china porcelain
● Date: 2012

This piece is part of a collection of slip cast porcelain vases, "Vanitas Vanitatum: A Garniture of Beauty and Decay", that explores the transience of beauty and the vulnerabilities caused by excess. Tamsin draws her inspiration from 17th-century Dutch vanitas still-life paintings, as well as the tragic imagery conveyed in Charles Dickens’s Satis House. The artisan aims to capture the delicate moment, the quasi-invisible line, when abundance turns to decay.

Porcelain VirtuosityExhibition