Framing the Figure

摘要

The teapot has for hundreds of years, in many parts of world and through all strata of society, been one of the most important and common instruments of social ritual and hence of social cohesion. It is not surprising therefore that artists and people have used it as a springboard for comment and flights of fancy. This has particularly been the case with makers working in the most malleable of media, ceramic. In the past, the teapot has been clad in such fantasies as imitations of bamboo, or cabbage leaves or used as a base for paintings and sculpture. In recent times it has undergone deconstructions into abstract forms, been flattened into quasi-cubist geometries and subjected to myriad post-modern parodies. Superficially, John Berry's teapots may appear to be yet another contemporary example of the urge towards novelty, but there is much more to the work.