The Value of Imperfection
Sometimes an object changes your taste instead of confirming it. It unsettles assumptions that you have held for years and quietly persuades you to see differently. That happened to me recently at a local auction, where two nineteenth-century Desvres faience pieces sat almost unnoticed among the day's offerings. Nobody seemed particularly interested in them, and I bought them for what felt like an extraordinarily modest price. I left with more than two ceramics; I left questioning why these overlooked objects affected me so deeply. The pieces themselves possess undeniable charm. One is a ginger jar topped with an expressive animal finial, while the other is an elegant vase. Both belong to the rich nineteenth-century tradition of French faience associated with the celebrated Desvres workshops of Louis-François Fourmaintraux. Their cream-coloured surfaces carry hand-painted decoration in a warm polychrome palette of blue, ochre, green, and red. Stylized flowers unfold across the form...
