From conservation to creation

摘要

Throughout October 2020, in the window of Sotheby's Bond Street headquarters in London, stood a striking 90cm high sculpture of mainland Britain, made out of smashed blue and white china. At first glance, a passer-by might be seduced by the audacity of the composition - the beautiful swooping patterns of blue and white, the familiar outline given intriguing three-dimensional form by broken halves of cups and saucers. Dwell a little longer in front of the display, however, and a visitor might be led to think further: of course, the Brits are a nation of tea drinkers and British wealth was founded, in part, on the tea (and slave and sugar) trade; that in turn stimulated the pottery industry, a significant part of Britain's industrial economy.