Tableware—the dishes, glasses, and cutlery used to set a table for dining—has a storied place in art history. The Chinese created ceramics as early 1600 BCE, eventually discovering how to make porcelain, which was widely traded in the Islamic and Byzantines empties, making the name "china" synonymous in the West with the best ceramics. The individual artists of Ancient Greek ceramic black-figure painting and red-figure painting movements were so revered and sought after that for the first time they began to sign their work. The court at Versaille patroned ornate pottery from Sèvres, while the Dutch’s white-and-blue glazed Delftware made …
Tableware—the dishes, glasses, and cutlery used to set a table for dining—has a storied place in art history. The Chinese created ceramics as early 1600 BCE, eventually discovering how to make porcelain, which was widely traded in the Islamic and Byzantines empties, making the name "china" synonymous in the West with the best ceramics. The individual artists of Ancient Greek ceramic black-figure painting and red-figure painting movements were so revered and sought after that for the first time they began to sign their work. The court at Versaille patroned ornate pottery from Sèvres, while the Dutch’s white-and-blue glazed Delftware made pottery affordable for the households of the emerging middle classes. Serving both functional and decorative purposes, tableware has continued to be an inspiring medium for contemporary artists. For the iconic feminist installation The Dinner Party, Judy Chicago set a table for 39 great historical women, from Sappho to Virginia Woolf, each place setting customized to the invitee’s historical accomplishments. Likewise, the medium has been widely used for limited editions—Bernardaud has commissioned Sophie Calle, Marco Brambilla, Jeff Koons, and even David Lynch to make plates for them, each bearing the stylistic stamp of the artist.
