For him if the object of thought is vaseness, that object is unreal and thus quite different from the real particular vases that one sees.
Vases (on table, from left): Poole Pottery Maya Purse vase, £75; Maury clay vase, £20, and small Maury clay vase, £15.
From the road it's just a tall stone building but inside there are rugs on the floors, vases of fresh flowers and even a cat who matches the stonework.
There were occasional later lyric notes to her feminism, when figures from Greek vases might be joined by fashion plates or lingerie ads: non-hierarchical figures as she would say; not great, but they pointed up the intensity of her central work.
Dinners are prepared by Alfredo and Monica and served at high tables laden with vases of wild flowers and vintage kitchenware (meals are not cheap, though, at €38 a head for three courses, excluding wine).
"I guess we're comfortable," says Mikey smugly to Margi when she, clutching a glass of wine, praises his Chestnut Hill home with its minimalist white sofas and pretentious vases.
Companionably, they set about weeding, washing gravestones and filling vases.
Laura turns flat glass vases into Rothko-like colour studies, while Alessandro (who will also teach at the school) makes striking modern sculptures that play with the mirror, light and water effects of Venice.
The visitor is able to concentrate on the extraordinary workmanship of the vases and bowls, brushes, paintings and lacquered screens, all loans from the Palace Museum in Beijing.
There are 161 pieces: vases and incense burners, shrines, teapots and candlesticks.
They were either in emotional turmoil, trapped between the worlds of "here" and "there" and throwing vases to get attention, or they were placid "stay-behinds", who had died so peacefully that they never bothered to leave the place they knew.
