This week’s Keeper’s Corner item is a small porcelain bowl by Mary Rogers from 1982. It is decorated with tulips – a typical spring flower.
Our Keeper of Art loves the delicacy of its convoluted form and the careful painting of the flower heads. The bowl was hand built by pinching and folding the porcelain, possibly supported by a foam cradle. Rogers then carefully hand painted the blowing flower heads with oxides under a white glaze. Every flower head is different and painstakingly coloured with tiny dots and brushstrokes. The use of porcelain gives the bowl a translucent quality, especially where it is unpainted. Rogers was greatly inspired by nature and many of her pieces reflect the shapes and patterns found in the natural world. This bowl unites the form of an unfurling flower head with its pattern of flower heads across the surface.
We have nine further pieces by Rogers in our collection but this one best captures the theme of spring.
In next week’s Keepers’ Corner we’ll be looking for some seasonal inspiration in the Embroiderers’ Guild Collection.Â
