72. Kevin Viens, bottle vase

 72. Kevin Viens, bottle vase

 

For Viens, see item 69.

Reddish brown clay(?; see below); white, blue, mustard, and black glazes. Weight: 1206 g (2.7 lb). Rim diameter: 3.7 cm (1-1/2 in); maximum diameter: 8.7 cm (3-3/8 in); base diameter: 5.3 cm (2-1/8). Height: 25.2 cm (10 in).

I’m not sure about the color of the clay; the base appears to have been covered with a white slip, but in a few places small patches of red are visible in areas the slip didn’t cover.

This sits directly on the flat base. The artist’s surname “VIENS” is barely visible beneath the slip. From the base the walls rise in a shallow arc to a height of 17.5 cm (7 in) at the shoulder. The maximum diameter is reached about 8.8 cm (3-1/2 in) above the base. A break is sensible to the touch at the shoulder, but visible to the eye only as a slight bump in the direction of reflected light. From the shoulder the walls narrow up to the neck, which is 3.2 cm (1-1/4 in) in diameter and 22.7 cm (9 in) above the base. The walls flare out a bit as they approach the rim.

On the exterior, the ground is a thick, white glaze. A blue glaze was applied (with cheesecloth?  with a brush?) in an ascending spiral of varying width and density around the circumference of the pot from the base up to the break at the shoulder. The neck, shoulders, and part of the upper walls of the body were covered with a semi-transparent dark-mustard-colored (think Gulden’s rather than French’s) glaze. The ends of the blue spiral are visible under this glaze. Finally, the neck, rim, and interior of the pot were covered with a black glaze.  The base of the piece is not glazed but appears to be covered with a white slip.

A heavy pot with good use of shape to define areas for decoration. The lines of the pot are disrupted by the decoration, however, unsettling the impact of the piece in a good way.

Purchased at the annual spring sale at Feet of Clay Pottery, Brookline, Massachusetts, April 2019.