Vase c. 1900 - 1902

This vase, by Edward Colonna, at the Art Institute of Chicago, feels like a secret garden captured in porcelain. I can imagine the artist, with clay-covered hands, coaxing these delicate forms into being. The creamy surface is like a canvas, where pale green and pink blossoms intertwine. The patterns aren’t just painted on, but they seem to emerge from the vase itself, like whispers of springtime etched in clay. Look at the way the stems curve and reach, as if they're dancing in a gentle breeze. What might he have been thinking when he carved each petal? It reminds me of the Arts and Crafts movement, of artists talking to other artists through objects, each piece a response to the last. Colonna’s vase offers a quiet kind of beauty, inviting us to slow down and notice the subtle rhythms of the natural world, as captured by the human hand.