Bodil Manz
Danish, born 1943Three Cylinders, ca. 2000
Not on view
Porcelain
Dimensions4 3/4 × 5 1/2 in. (12.1 × 14 cm)
4 1/8 × 4 5/8 in. (10.5 × 11.7 cm)
3 × 3 3/4 in. (7.6 × 9.5 cm)
Gift of Janis and William Wetsman, 2016.27
Bodil Manz is well known for her eggshell porcelain objects. Eggshell porcelain is a term used to describe incredibly thin bodies, or walls of porcelain. The walls of this sugar and creamer set are so thin and translucent that the lines are visible both inside and out, which creates a complex surface illustration. The straight black lines on these vessels are applied not with a brush, but with transfers. Manz placed a colored transfer onto the unglazed clay and then fired them in a gas-fueled kiln at very high temperatures. This process is repeated multiple times to achieve the desired color intensity.