Vanitas Fair at Anton Janizewski, Berlin, 08.12-16.12.2023, curated by Olga Hohmann and Jan Koslowski in collaboration with Grisebach auction house.
The series of vases and vessels is inspired by Kraak ware, Chinese export porcelain produced mainly in the late Ming dynasty (1627–1644). Cobalt blue inscriptions are fragmentary quotations from texts by Olga Hohmann and Jan Kozlowski. Crafted in Cerrco, Geneva, especially for the occasion of the Vanitas Fare. Two different porcelain types were used for the production of the vessels, grey and white. Both are European attempts in creating Bone China.
Kraak ware was among the first Chineese export wares to arrive to Europe in mass quantities, and was frequently featured in Dutch Golden Age paintings of still life subjects with foreign luxuries. The quality of Kraak is much disputed among scholars, some claiming it to only be a dismal shadow of the truly fine ceramics China was capable of producing.
Nevertheless it was copied and imitated all over the world, by potters in Arita, Japan, Persia and ultimately in Delft.