VESSELS

1 Vessels (with imitation trailed glass cage mount)

BA: I was thinking about the compulsion to draw or to look at a thing – in this case a Syrian ninth century glass-trailed vessel in the British Museum that caught my eye. I drew it – well, photographed it – then kept obsessing about it.. and I almost exhausted it – exhausted my understanding or visual understanding of it, so it became something that I became really familiar with. It’s a vessel inside a surround – the glass-trail work encapsulates the pot – but the way I drew it doesn’t really look three dimensional because the line doesn’t look like it goes around the back…
[Excerpt from “Conversations on Making” 2023, the first in a series of publications by Joanna Brinton]

2 Garniture of Fake Ginger Jars With Handles & Protuberances On Ormolu Mounts

The artist’s latest ceramic works, Garniture/Fake Ginger Jars (2020 – ongoing) (referencing sets of decorative objects popular from the late 17th century all through the 19th century) probes deeper into the collector’s domestic treasures. It is particularly resonant with this country’s passion for taste-making through collecting. ..Ginger jars originated from around 200BCE China, however the term itself is a Western invention. At the height of Chinoiserie in the 18th century, Chinese ceramics like the ginger jar became sought-after decorative objects. It created a new export industry on the southern coast of China where ceramists produced specific designs tailored to European tastes for merchants to bring back home as souvenirs. 

As Ashton shrewdly notes, they are intrinsically inauthentic, just like the jars she creates. Fantastical creatures with ormolu made not of gold on bases made of cardboard, yet as a set of garnitures, they strengthen each other’s credibility and sense of certainty. 
Janice Li, 2022

3 Plans for Porcelain Vases With Ornate Decoration And Additional Protuberances.
Linocut prints, 2023