THE ARTFUL TEAPOT/GARTH CLARK

摘要

The teapot seems, for obscure reasons, to generate more interest and more shelf space than any other comparable domestic object. Without looking too hard I found five books on the subject on my own bookshelves. They were of varying character and quality but were all devoted entirely to the teapot, usually to its more bizarre or colourful forms. However, this is small beer, as Garth Clark cites twenty-three books on the subject in his bibliography.If this was lust another to add to the shelf I would be hard put to it to find anything new to say. However, The Artful Teapot is in a different League. It is bigger, more ambitious, more thorough and although very beautiful, no mere coffee table offering. Clark brings to the book all his qualities of scholarship, as well as the wit and perception that were evident in his earlier bestseller on the subject, The Eccentric Teapot. He also brings a standard of presentation and quality of photography that is superb.