Grotesque Vase
Christopher Dresser (Made by Ault Pottery (Swadlincote, Derbyshire, England, 1887-1923))
c. 1893
- Medium
- Lead-glazed earthenware
- Classification
- Ceramics
- Dimensions
- 26.6 × 19.7 cm (10 7/16 × 7 3/4 in.)
- Culture
- Swadlincote
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Applied Arts of Europe
- Credit line
- Purchased with funds provided by Quinn E. Delaney
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
Towards the end of his career, Ault Pottery contracted Christopher Dresser to produce innovative vases and other forms for the new firm. One of his most iconic designs for Ault was this vase featuring stylized goat heads perched on elongated hooved legs. This humorous vase was part of a series of brightly colored vessels with handles constructed of grotesquely proportioned animals or humans. Grotesques are monstrous figures, such as those portrayed in stone on medieval cathedrals, which may have served as a source of inspiration for this unusual design.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
