Perry says by way of introduction that it took him 20 years to begin to "perfect the ceramic equivalent of these sketchbook images" but after he set up his first pottery studio in 1986, the sketchbooks abruptly become drawing boards for vases rather than hyper-detailed excursions into his subconscious.
Basically "I think 'put' killed 'set,' " another lexicographer mused to Mr. Gilliver in an only-in-Oxford pub chat recently, noting that you now put a vase on the mantel, rather than set it there, and put words on paper, not set them.
(The bright, variegated patterns of a monster head/flower vase — in papier-mâché rather than clay, and filled with real lilies — by the Swiss art star Urs Fischer could almost be an irreverent hommage to Mr. Price's fine-pored, jewel-like surface).
The Met made a public-relations virtue of legal necessity over the return of the Euphronios krater: in its 2006 annual report, an introductory letter signed by Philippe de Montebello, the Met's director, speaks of the "leadership position" the museum had taken in crafting an agreement with Italy, as if the relinquishing of the vase were a triumph rather than a much resisted capitulation.
Although he was influenced by examples of existing Greek vases, in the poem he attempted to describe an ideal artistic type, rather than a specific original vase.
Why send these rather than, say, a vase?
As Jon Scieszka puts it, "Kids are growing like a tree, which you can prune and nurse, rather than like a vase you have to fill".
If you rotate the vase it will encourage them to grow straight rather than leaning towards the nearest light source.
For example, fill Grandma's old vase with the sea-shells you collected together (rather than in a box somewhere).
