Plate

Dateca. 1969

Maker Fred Bauer American, born 1937

Label TextAn Offering: Vessels and Votives in Contemporary Ceramics Shaping humble clay into transcendent forms fit for the divine is a tradition as old as ceramics themselves. Drawing inspiration from the ancient vernacular of forms and techniques, contemporary artists work with clay to create sculpture that, to our eyes, is both instinctively familiar and unexpectedly fresh. Realistically painted or sculpted food was an indispensible part of both Sumerian and Egyptian beliefs and rituals. The image of food or other offerings would nourish gods or the deceased in perpetuity. Fred Bauer’s Plate revisits this custom centuries later.

Object number76.15

Photo CreditPhoto: Scott Leen

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Poke in the Eye: Art of the West Coast Counterculture, June 21 - September 2, 2024.

Credit LineGift of Jim Manolides

DimensionsDiam.: 17 1/2 in., 22 in with silverware hanging off

MediumEarthenware with glaze