Incense Burner c. 1830

Curator: What strikes you first about this diminutive ceramic building? It’s an incense burner produced by the Staffordshire Potteries around 1830. Editor: Tiny, dreamy, a little wistful! Like a cottage pulled straight from a fairy tale, all sugary pinks and delicate details. I feel like Hansel and Gretel might knock any moment, looking for warmth. Curator: Exactly! The Romantic era held a deep fascination for the vernacular, with idealized depictions of rural life that fulfilled contemporary desire for simple beauty. Though I am curious about the question mark over the door. What do you make of that? Editor: The question mark! Maybe it represents the unknowns of domesticity, the daily dramas hidden behind closed doors. Or perhaps it's about finding ourselves reflected in our homes, an existential nook where we constantly question our place. A bold move for Staffordshire, given how they produced idealized homeware for the rapidly rising middle class in the industrial Midlands. Curator: Indeed, but those houses have rich symbology of cultural identity, nostalgia for a past way of life. You get those decorative shrubs, for instance, adding a sense of nature and idyllic harmony – a buffer against the dirt, danger and disease. Editor: That makes a great deal of sense. I see a need, perhaps unconscious, to compensate for all that perceived cultural loss as society changed. It has this odd juxtaposition, though, in that the question mark undermines what came before. Curator: I suppose Staffordshire was exploring this feeling from new cultural paradigms in ceramic and beyond. I notice there is also an ornamental, perhaps ironic flourish. A playful subversion? Editor: It could also simply be an innocent quirk to stand out, or inject some humor – the cottage wondering why it’s been turned into a trinket. Curator: The artistry with that touch certainly creates an introspective moment, it moves beyond pretty ornamental homewear, creating curiosity beyond the familiar imagery of a picturesque rural England. Editor: You are right, it does! Even from a small decorative object, that questions what our own lives are. Thank you for unveiling it.