Quilted Teapot #1

Nancy Selvin, Quilted Teapot #1, n.d., glazed earthenware, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art, 1998.135A-B
Copied Nancy Selvin, Quilted Teapot #1, n.d., glazed earthenware, overall: 5 787 127 14 in. (15.019.118.5 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art, 1998.135A-B

Artwork Details

Title
Quilted Teapot #1
Artist
Date
n.d.
Dimensions
overall: 5 787 127 14 in. (15.019.118.5 cm)
Credit Line
Museum purchase through the Howard Kottler Endowment for Ceramic Art
Mediums
Mediums Description
glazed earthenware
Classifications
Subjects
  • Object — other — fabric
Object Number
1998.135A-B

Artwork Description

Quilted Teapot #1 is from a series Nancy Selvin began during the 1970s in which she decorated nonfunctional teapots with airbrushed china paint and decals. The patchwork design sews together decorative floral squares and pictures the artist took of her barber and local coffee shops. She disguises the stiff and solid nature of the clay by slumping and creasing it so that the pot looks as though it is made from the soft cotton fabric of a quilt.