{"product_id":"slab-built-stoneware-wall-pocket-oval-copper-green-glaze-breaking-rust-over-incised-and-rouletted-decoration-c-1970-1995","title":"Slab-Built Stoneware Wall Pocket, Oval, Copper-Green Glaze Breaking Rust over Incised and Rouletted Decoration, c. 1970–1995","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn oval stoneware plaque built to hang on a wall, with a deep \u003cstrong\u003ehalf-pocket applied across the lower front\u003c\/strong\u003e to hold what you put in it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt is \u003cstrong\u003eslab-built, not thrown\u003c\/strong\u003e — a flat sheet of clay cut to shape, with the pocket formed separately and joined on, and the join left visible as a soft ridge rather than smoothed away.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe decoration is cut into the clay: \u003cstrong\u003eincised vertical lines\u003c\/strong\u003e running down the face, and a band of \u003cstrong\u003erouletted toothing\u003c\/strong\u003e pressed round the edge of the pocket with a toothed wheel.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe glaze is a \u003cstrong\u003ecopper green\u003c\/strong\u003e, mottled and uneven, pooling dark in the incised lines and \u003cstrong\u003ebreaking to rust-brown over every raised edge\u003c\/strong\u003e, so the form is outlined in its own glaze.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA \u003cstrong\u003ehanging hole\u003c\/strong\u003e is pierced through the top. The reverse is unglazed — raw toasted stoneware, with the marks where the piece stood in the kiln.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eA wall pocket is a solution to a problem people stopped having, which is why they are worth having again.\u003c\/strong\u003e The form is old — a half-vessel hung flat against a wall, for flowers in a room with no table to spare, for matches beside a stove, for letters beside a door. It puts something at eye level in a house where every horizontal surface is already taken.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe green-breaking-rust is copper and iron doing what they do.\u003c\/strong\u003e A copper glaze gives green where it lies thick; where it runs thin over a sharp edge, the iron underneath burns through brown. That is why every raised line on this piece is outlined in rust and every cut line is pooled dark — the glaze is reading the form for you. The effect cannot be painted on. It only happens where there is real relief for the glaze to run off.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe rouletted border is a tool mark, and a specific one.\u003c\/strong\u003e A roulette is a small toothed wheel rolled across soft clay, and it leaves a band of even impressions that a stamp cannot match and a hand certainly cannot. It is one of the oldest decorating tools there is and it stayed in studio use because it does in one pass what would otherwise take fifty.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe unglazed back is deliberate.\u003c\/strong\u003e A piece made to hang flat needs a raw back — glaze against a kiln shelf fuses, and glaze against a wall slips. Leaving it bare is how the maker planned the firing and how they planned the hanging, and the kiln marks on it are the record.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe piece carries \u003cstrong\u003eno mark, signature or stamp\u003c\/strong\u003e and is offered \u003cstrong\u003eunattributed\u003c\/strong\u003e. Dated on the slab construction, the rouletted and incised decoration, the high-fired copper glaze breaking over the relief, and the deliberately raw reverse — studio practice rather than commercial moulding: \u003cstrong\u003ec. 1970–1995\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n  \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eStoneware wall pocket — an oval wall plaque with an applied pocket, pierced to hang. Approx. 9 in high and 7 in across.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eSlab-built oval back with a separately formed half-pocket joined across the lower front, the join left proud; single hanging hole pierced through the top; reverse left unglazed\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eIncised vertical lines to the face with a band of rouletted toothing around the pocket edge, under a mottled copper-green glaze that pools dark in the cuts and breaks rust-brown over every raised edge\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHigh-fired stoneware in a toasted body, hand-built, glazed to the face and pocket only\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eNone. No signature, chop or stamp. Offered unattributed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003ec. 1970–1995. Dated on the slab building, the rouletted and incised decoration, the high-fired copper glaze breaking over relief, and the raw unglazed reverse — studio practice rather than commercial production.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eExcellent. Sound with no chips, no cracks, no repairs and no restoration; the pocket join is firm with no stress lines, the hanging hole is clean and unworn, and the glaze is intact throughout. \u003cstrong\u003eThe rust-brown edges and the mottling in the green are the fired glaze, not damage\u003c\/strong\u003e — that is what a copper glaze does over relief. Kiln marks and light shelf wear to the unglazed reverse. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWall space is the cheapest real estate in a house and almost nobody uses it for anything but pictures.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis does two jobs at once. It is a green ceramic relief that reads as an object from across a room, and it holds things: a bunch of dried stems, eucalyptus, a spray of lavender, a handful of pens, mail, keys, matches. Hang it by a back door and it takes the clutter that otherwise lands on the counter.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe colour is the reason to pick it up. Copper green going rust at the edges is the exact palette of weathered bronze and old garden gates, and it sits against plaster, brick, painted board and raw wood without needing anything else in the room to agree with it. Against a white wall it reads almost like patinated metal until you get close enough to see the clay.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt works indoors and out. On a covered porch, in a garden room, beside a potting bench or under an eave it does the same job it does in a hallway, and the high-fired body takes damp without trouble.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, starting with the one that matters outdoors. \u003cstrong\u003eBring it in before a hard freeze.\u003c\/strong\u003e The glazed face is sealed but the reverse is raw and porous, and a porous body that has taken up water will split when that water turns to ice. Everything else about it is weatherproof; that one thing is not.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor fresh flowers, drop a glass jar or a florist's vial into the pocket rather than filling it directly. The pocket is glazed and will hold water, but a liner keeps mineral deposit out of the glaze and keeps water off the raw back.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eHang it on something that will actually hold it.\u003c\/strong\u003e Stoneware is heavy for its size — use a wall anchor or hit a stud, not a picture pin, and check that the hook seats through the hole rather than bearing on the glaze edge.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDust it with a soft dry brush, which gets into the incising and the rouletting better than a cloth, and keep the unglazed back off wallpaper and off anything it can mark.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48047020605545,"sku":"VE-0731","price":110.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/7BE86ED1-6928-44F8-98EC-644997728192.jpg?v=1789273623","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/slab-built-stoneware-wall-pocket-oval-copper-green-glaze-breaking-rust-over-incised-and-rouletted-decoration-c-1970-1995","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}