Welcome back to NewsFile, our weekly round-up of newsy tidbits and happenings from the worlds of contemporary ceramics and contemporary ceramic art. We start the week off with a record breaking auction and a beautiful brick chapel. Be sure to stay tuned throughout the week as we update the NewsFile.
Ultra Rare Bowl Sells in Record Breaking Auction
This ultra rare ceramic brush washer sold for $37.7 million after a 20 minute bidding war earlier this month at Sotheby’s Hong Kong. A The extremely rare 900-year-old ceramic Ru guanyao vessel from China’s Song Dynasty set a new world record for Chinese Ceramics, Artnet writes.
Described by Sotheby’s as “virtually unobtainable,” the imperial court of the late Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) commissioned the bowl from the most notable of the five great kilns. The kiln’s production cycle lasted fewer than 20 years and its ceramics are among the rarest and most desirable today, which lends this bowl an almost mythical status throughout Asia. It is one of only four known privately owned Ru ceramics, and according to CNN it is one of only six examples of Ru ceramics to come to auction since 1940.
The Jakarta Post reports the price tag exceeds the earlier record made by a tiny white piece known as the “Chicken Cup,” (Cfile covered that sale too; read it here) created during the reign of the Chenghua Emperor between 1465 and 1487.
China’s various dynasties were renowned for their fine ceramics with the Song period often regarded as producing some of the region’s most superb examples.
Song ceramics are particularly known for their subtlety, simplicity and exquisite glazing and have long been among the most sought after objects for collectors.
SOFA Coming to Chicago This Fall
The world’s preeminent art galleries, exhibiting the very best contemporary art and design in all media including ceramics, wood, glass, fiber, jewelry, metal, design, painting, photography, and works on paper – will converge at SOFA CHICAGO, November 2-5 at Navy Pier’s Festival Hall.
Learn more here.
Alex Chinneck’s Twisted Chimneys
Ubiquitous and often romanticized, especially in the UK, artist Alex Chinneck has announced his latest project Onwards & Upwards: four topsy turvy brick chimneys. According to The Art Newspaper, the structures “will form new landmarks in the post-industrial landscape between Sheffield and Rotherham in Yorkshire.”
One of the 30-metre-tall chimney sculptors is tied in a knot, two leaning chimneys will span the Sheffield and Tinsley canal, another will have an upper section that appears to float and for good measure a fourth that appears to be cracking up will be illuminated at night.
You can read the rest of The Art Newspaper’s coverage here. Be sure to also read Cfile’s previous coverage of Chinneck’s mesmerizing works.
David Caon + Noritaki’s New Ultralight Tableware Collection
David Caon’s design studio has teamed up with Japanese China manufacturer Noritaki on a new tableware collaboration featuring ultralight weight serviceware collection for Quantas Airways, DesignBoom reports.
The collection includes a five-piece flatware set in brushed stainless steel, a four-piece glassware set in lead and barium free crystal and a 16-piece crockery. The collection is purposely designed for use on aircraft and lounges demonstrating a Noritake’s mastery of Bone China.
The studio’s objective combines minimal, classic elegance with quality and functionality, favouring a soft edge where hard lines are often found.
Chapel Built From Earth with Handmade Bricks
Check out this proposal for a multi-faith place of worship Tanaf in Senegal. The brick design by Sean Cassidy and Joe Wilson proposes a circular chapel with a sunken exterior moat in which locals can privately reflect and pray. The design also features an central sanctum constructed by locals with handmade bricks.
Cassidy and Wilson tell ArchDaily the building “literally comes from the ‘God given land'” that the community equally “can take pride in and call their own upon completion.”
The design took third place in the recently-concluded Kaira Looro competition.
Add your valued opinion to this post.