Baked Potato
1966
An 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. Claes Oldenburg’s Baked Potato revisits this custom centuries later.
Cast resin, painted with acrylic, Shenango china dish
4 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 7 in. (11.43 x 26.67 x 17.78 cm)
Gift of Sidney and Anne Gerber
86.274.4
Photo: Elizabeth Mann