Gourd Vase

Taxile Doat’s mastery of notoriously challenging high-fire porcelain bodies and flammé glazes—so named for their flame-like appearance on the surface of a vessel—was groundbreaking at the turn of the twentieth century.

The luminous flammé glaze of this round vase was achieved through the introduction of copper and iron and a varying presence of oxygen in the kiln. For contrast and visual interest, and perhaps also to show the clarity of the porcelain body, Doat left portions of the vase unglazed. Doat also paid homage to the vase’s original inspiration, a gourd, by including a “dimple” on the base that represents the spot where the vegetable would have connected to its vine.