UK artist showcases differences in Chinese and British manufacturing methods

An exhibition that was inspired by the beauty of a 13th century Chinese bowl is proving a big hit in Britain.

Made in China, an installation by British ceramic artist Clare Twomey, is currently on display at The Harley Gallery at Welbeck, Nottinghamshire.

 

It features 79 giant red and gold vases made by a factory in the Jiangxi province city of Jingdezhen, renowned for its pottery, and only one made by Royal Crown Derby, the Derby-based British manufacturer.

The exhibition aims to contrast Chinese and British manufacturing methods and techniques.

Twomey, 47, got the idea for the work, while working as an artist-in-residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

"There was a display that was examining what was happening in terms of ceramics in both Europe and China in the 13th century," she says.

"There was this beautiful bowl made in Jingdezhen that exemplified the wonderful skills that existed in China. The things being made in Europe at that time did not have that incredible delicacy."

Twomey came up with the idea for an installation that would contrast what was now being made in Jingdezhen, still a center of ceramic manufacturing, and in Europe.

She therefore searched the internet for a manufacturer in Jingdezhen that could make her something typical of today's production.

"I found this manufacturer that made big vases. We agreed on a surface design that was one of a plethora of standard designs they offered. I acted like I was a hotel or any other purchaser and asked them to make 80 of them. They said they could make them in just three weeks.

"It was clear I didn't actually want to go to Jingdezhen and fall in love with the place as I might have done in the 13th century to see who was making what. Part of the conversation of the installation was to reflect the modern world and do everything virtually on the internet."

Twomey also asked for blank vases from the Jingdezhen factory to have them decorated in the UK to show a contrast with European techniques.

"I went to Royal Crown Derby, which is one of our great porcelain producers. They agreed they would do this using their Avesbury design, one of the company's oldest that dates back to the 1930s and which incorporates 22-carat gold. It is English style and has lovely pheasants contrasting with the very Chinese peony flower design of the Chinese vases."

Whereas the Chinese company could easily fire 80 large vases, Twomey found it difficult to find a single kiln in the UK that could now fire a vase 1.5 meters in height. She eventually had to go to Josiah Wedgwood and Sons in Stoke-on-Trent, which had a kiln big enough.

"When we fired the vases, people from all over the factory came to look at what we were doing. We did three since you can't go to this trouble and break one. That we could only do this at Wedgwood showed that we just can't do what they do in Jingdezhen.

"At the same time, the design by Royal Crown Derby is an example of what can be made in Britain today. The vase we have on display costs more than the other 79 vases put together. I am not saying, however, that the Jingdezhen factory could not have laid the 22-carat gold if we had asked them to do so."

Twomey says part of the idea behind the installation is to show how ceramic skills had changed over the centuries with the UK becoming a leader in bone China production in the 18th century.

"We have both, at the same time, similar and diverse skill sets and these have traveled forward and back over many centuries. There is a reciprocal relationship that has developed over hundreds of years."

Twomey, who was brought up in Suffolk in the east of England, studied at the Edinburgh College of Art before doing a master's at the Royal College of Art in London, where she graduated in 1996.

Now a research fellow at the University of Westminster, she has had a number of major exhibitions, including The Secret History of Clay at the Tate Gallery in Liverpool in 2004 and also Trophy at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2006. Many of her exhibitions such as Made in China have a social and historical context.

Twomey has not publicly revealed the name of the Jingdezhen manufacturer since she says any number of Chinese manufacturers could have supplied the vases.

"We have never used the company name as part of the project. I think that is better for the artwork. It is not a comparison between companies but about sharing of skills across the world over hundreds of years in this long exchange."

The installation, where the vases stand almost as tall as China's Terracotta Warriors, has previously been displayed in Norway.

She believes the Harley Gallery, the home of The Portland Collection, one of the most impressive art collections in the UK outside of London which includes paintings by George Stubbs and Anthony van Dyck, is an impressive venue for the exhibition.

"It has been a pleasure working with them. There is a very good team there and they were very open about the way the works should be shown."

andrewmoody@chinadaily.com.cn