Vase 1879 - 1882

This striking vase was crafted by Christopher Dresser, a visionary of the late 19th century. Its elongated form, painted with swirling patterns of yellow and brown, recalls the ancient Egyptian canopic jars, vessels meant to safeguard human viscera during mummification. The tapered shape and swirling lines carry echoes of natural forms—a stylized shoot reaching towards the sun, a visual metaphor for growth and transformation. Throughout art history, we see such motifs reappear—the serpentine forms in Art Nouveau, the upward striving in Gothic architecture. These shared shapes evoke our collective longing for transcendence. The vase’s colors, earthy yellows and browns, connect us to the soil, the primal source of life. Much like the symbolism found in ancient pottery across various cultures, this vase seems to tap into humanity’s enduring connection to the earth, to cycles of life, death, and renewal. Thus, Dresser’s vase becomes more than a mere vessel, it becomes an emblem of our shared symbolic language.