scent bottle
Summary
Perfume bottle in the form of freely modelled figure of grotesque bird with broad grinning beak, small eyes and large webbed talons, standing upright on small circular plinth. Removable head forms stopper. Details of wing feathers and head picked out in dark and light blue and dull brown slips.
Display Label
Shape Shapes are often defined by their function: a teapot must have a handle and a spout. But by breaking away from the usual conventions designers and makers can reveal new possibilities, create new forms and make us think again. They can transform the teapot into a pineapple, or a simple, curvaceous, abstract shape. Through time, makers have used their imagination, their ingenuity and even their sense of humour to transform ordinary and everyday objects into appealing shapes inspired by our surroundings. Some shapes are designed to reflect their use, others are made as a novelty or decorative item: cows for a cream jug, giraffes for a mantelpiece. Many are created out of a desire to experiment, to see what can be done with different materials. This display brings together a menagerie of shapes showing the possibilities available to the maker.
Object Name
scent bottle
Creators Name
Date Created
1902-1907
Dimensions
at widest point: 3.6cm
accession number
1996.114
Collection Group
craft and design
ceramics
objects of personal use & adornment
Place of creation
Southall
Medium
Credit
Gift of Joan Sutcliffe through The Friends of Manchester City Galleries
Legal
© Manchester Art Gallery