{"product_id":"small-round-bellied-pot-in-crimson-with-gilt-drip-decoration-signed-dawns-creation-and-dated-5-15-2000","title":"Small Round-Bellied Pot in Crimson with Gilt Drip Decoration, Signed “Dawn's Creation” and Dated 5-15-2000","description":"  \u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA small round-bellied pot, about the size of a closed fist, with a distinctly rolled collar at the mouth and a narrow foot.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe outside is finished in a \u003cstrong\u003edeep crimson\u003c\/strong\u003e, laid on in visible directional strokes so the colour shifts from near-scarlet where the light catches it to a dark wine in the shadow of the belly.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAround the shoulder, just under the collar, runs a band of \u003cstrong\u003epale gold drip decoration\u003c\/strong\u003e — irregular tongues and runs of a tan-gold tone that hang down over the red like wax down a candle, thick in places and thinning to nothing in others.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInside, the finish stops. The interior is a \u003cstrong\u003epale cream\u003c\/strong\u003e, ringed with fine concentric lines running up the wall.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eTurn it over and the recessed base carries a signature in black marker, in the maker's own hand: \u003cstrong\u003eDawn's Creation\u003c\/strong\u003e, and beneath it the date \u003cstrong\u003e5-15-2000\u003c\/strong\u003e, with three small tally strokes below that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAlmost nothing is dated to the day, and this is.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe entire discipline of dating objects is inference — you read the tooling, the fixings, the finish, the wear, and you commit to a range you can defend. A twenty-year window is a good result. This pot skips all of it, because the person who made it turned it over and wrote \u003cstrong\u003e15 May 2000\u003c\/strong\u003e on the bottom.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe name is the second gift.\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003cem\u003eDawn's Creation\u003c\/em\u003e is not a brand and was never meant to be one — the possessive gives it away. It is a person's first name and a claim on a thing she made, written by hand in marker rather than stamped or printed. It belongs to the long tradition of the maker's mark, which exists so that work can be traced to a pair of hands, and it does that job perfectly even though no company was ever behind it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe three tally strokes underneath are a number, in the way people number things for themselves: a piece count, a class number, a position in a run. What they mean is that this was not the only one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe decoration was done by hand and the evidence is all over it.\u003c\/strong\u003e The red goes on in strokes that run in different directions and overlap; the gold drips are irregular, each a different length, thicker where more was loaded and thinning where it ran out. Nothing repeats. A factory finish is even, and drips are the first thing a production line eliminates.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cstrong\u003efine concentric rings inside\u003c\/strong\u003e run the full height of the wall, the marks a wall carries when it has been raised on a turning wheel by fingers moving upward.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSmall losses around the foot show a \u003cstrong\u003egrey, granular body\u003c\/strong\u003e beneath the colour. Beyond that, the material is not visible under the finish and no further claim is made about it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eNothing further is asserted about the maker.\u003c\/strong\u003e No surname, studio, town or workshop appears anywhere on the piece. It is offered exactly as it is signed: a pot somebody named Dawn made and dated, on a Monday in May 2000.\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;\"\u003eSmall hand-decorated pot — a signed and dated studio piece\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;\"\u003eRound belly rising to a rolled collar mouth, on a narrow recessed foot; fine concentric turning rings to the interior wall\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;\"\u003eDeep crimson exterior applied in visible directional strokes, with a band of irregular pale gold drip decoration hanging from the shoulder; pale cream interior\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;\"\u003eSigned by hand in black marker to the recessed base: \u003cem\u003eDawn's Creation\u003c\/em\u003e over the date \u003cem\u003e5-15-2000\u003c\/em\u003e, with three tally strokes beneath. No surname, studio or place named.\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;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e15 May 2000\u003c\/strong\u003e, dated by the maker on the piece itself — no inference required.\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;\"\u003eVery good. The pot is sound with no cracks, no breaks and no repairs; it stands level, the collar rim is complete and even all the way round, the interior is clean, and the signature is crisp and fully legible. \u003cstrong\u003eExpect small losses to the finish around the foot ring\u003c\/strong\u003e, where the colour has chipped away to show a grey granular body beneath, along with light rubbing to the high points of the belly and the usual irregularity of hand-applied decoration. 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\u003eRed is the colour most people want somewhere in a room and are least willing to commit to, which is exactly what a small object is for.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis one is fist-sized, so it can go anywhere and change the temperature of a shelf without taking it over — on a stack of books, a mantel, a kitchen windowsill, a desk, a bathroom shelf. Against dark wood or a green wall the crimson does real work. The gold drips catch light from across a room.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIt holds things, which most decorative objects do not. The mouth is wide enough for rings and earrings on a dresser, paperclips and stamps on a desk, matches beside a candle, or a few short stems of something dried.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd it has the thing that is nearly impossible to buy: a date. Somebody sat down on a specific Monday in May, made this, and signed it. That is more provenance than most antiques can produce, and it makes it an unusually good gift for a birthday, an anniversary or a year somebody wants marked.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA note on care, and the finish is the vulnerable part. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not wash it, do not soak it and never put it in a dishwasher.\u003c\/strong\u003e The colour is a surface finish rather than a fired glaze, and water — especially hot water with detergent in it — will lift it, and will take the marker signature off the base entirely.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eDo not use it for water or fresh flowers.\u003c\/strong\u003e Treat it as dry storage or display; if you want stems in it, put a small glass or a florist's vial inside.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eDust it with a soft dry cloth or brush. If it needs more, use a barely damp cloth on the body only, keeping away from the chipped areas at the foot and away from the base, and dry it at once. Use no abrasive pad, no scouring cream, no bleach and no solvent. Keep it out of direct sunlight, which will fade a red finish faster than any other colour.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48042415161449,"sku":"VE-0714","price":42.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/A7B6AC9F-FC3A-4F98-AC15-BA916047A9A6.jpg?v=1789150245","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/small-round-bellied-pot-in-crimson-with-gilt-drip-decoration-signed-dawns-creation-and-dated-5-15-2000","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}