16 1/2 in (41.9 cm) high, 28 in (71.1 cm) diameter
Produced by Jongerius Lab, the Netherlands. From the edition of 3 plus 1 artist’s proof.
Estimate
$70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $86,500
MORE LOT DETAILS
Provenance Acquired directly from the artist
Literature Louise Schouwenberg and Hella Jongerius, Hella Jongerius, London, 2003, pp. 72–76 Gareth Williams, Telling Tales, Fantasy and Fear in Contemporary Design, exh. cat., The Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 2009, pp. 12-13 for similar examples Hella Jongerius, Louise Schouwenberg, Alice Rawsthorn, and Paola Antonelli, Hella Jongerius: Misfit, London, 2010, pp. 74-75, 149 Arlene Hirst, ‘TDA/Total Design Addict’, Elle Décor Italia, no. 9, September 2012, illustrated p. 188
CATALOGUE ESSAY
CONDITION REPORT
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Only four examples of the ‘Giant Prince’ vase were made, each built by hand and therefore each a unique work. Inspired by Jongerius’s experiences at the Princesshof ceramics museum in Leeuwarden, where she had been invited as guest curator, the artist embroidered a Ming Dynasty ‘Dragon’ onto the vase, stitching the heavy cotton thread through the vase’s thick clay walls. Ignoring the ‘appropriate’ means of applying decoration to ceramic, namely painting with glaze, Jongerius used this piece to dramatically cross-reference disciplines, uniting traditionally disparate craft techniques and methodologies into one work. ‘Giant Prince’ re-introduced decoration as a meaningful component of contemporary design. It is to me an extremely important and profound work - a canon aimed at Modernism - and the piece I love most in this sale.
The ‘Giant Prince’ vase is in the permanent collection of the Stedeliijk Museum, Amsterdam and the Gemeentemuseum, The Hague.