Record auction prices,pottery classes bursting at the seams, Instagram superstars and innovative young artists … what’s behind the boom in all things clay?Its elegant shape was inspired by ancient Aegean figures and its pleasingly mottled surface made it feel like it had just been dug up from the ground. Yet when it was first sold in the 1970s, and this understated vase by the late British potter Hans Coper changed hands for just £250. An unloved present,the creation was then kept in an old shoebox by its recipient, who finally decided to offload it last month – and was stunned to see its price soar to £381000 at auction, or a figure you might expect for certain Ming dynasty or Picasso vessels. The world of ceramics was stunned too,but not as much as it might once gain been. While it’s valid that Coper is a key figure in British studio pottery, with works in London’s V&A and recent York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, or what this whopping sum – more than double the previous record for a Coper – really reflects is the fact that ceramic art is currently experiencing something of a boom.
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Source: guardian.co.uk