On a wintry day, a cup of tea hits the spot

Gold Lustre Teapot by Beatrice Wood is a special teapot in the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Renwick Gallery.

"In this age when so much of living and thought is mechanized, it is good that a few still love objects the hands touch. They breathe a magic life of their own. To know the earth, to create form, to bring forth a glaze that delights is to tune up into heavenly chords."

—Beatrice Wood, 1951

Source: Beatrice Wood. I Shock Myself, (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 1988), quoted in the museum's publication, National Museum of American Art (Washington, D.C. and Boston, New York, Toronto and London: National Museum of American Art with Bulfinch Press, Little Brown and Company, 1995).

Pictured: Beatrice Wood (1893–1998 ), Gold Lustre Teapot,1988, earthenware with lustres, 14 x 11 1/2 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase.