Fine Bone China

Fine Bone China
Ceramic Sculpture - Artist’s own body parts & 39% animal bone
49cm H x 35cm W
£2,000 per edition
39 Editions

Fine bone china, commonly used in dinner-ware, is composed of porcelain and animal bone. The Vikings used animal horns, a form of bone, to consume food and drink but it’s said Englishman Thomas Frye in 1748 first used bones from a nearby slaughterhouse to create fine bone china. Through the likes of English brand Wedgewood, fine bone china is still used as a staple in high-class dining and decorative sculpture today.

That’s right, fine bone china which we comfortably put on display in our homes and use to consume food and drink is crafted using animal bones. It doesn’t look like an animal or taste like an animal, but it is made using between 25 - 50% animal (sorry vegans). How does it make you feel that we’ve adopted this as normal?

Wanting to elegantly portray fine bone china for what it is, I took it upon myself to research what many consider to be most associated with bone. With the result being the human skeleton, I cast my own body to sculpt a decorative and functional drinking set. The sculpture simply called ‘Fine Bone China’ is crafted using traditional ceramic techniques to create fine bone china and bone glazes. There is a total of 39 editions with 39% animal bone in each set. The aim is to question if fine bone china is a form of taxidermy? If it is a form of recycling? and If we could use human bone?

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