BY India Flint | February 8, 2010

Porcelain from South Australian Jane Robertson

This exquisite bowl was made by South Australian ceramist Jane Robertson and is formed from porcelain thrown on the wheel. The lovely spots in the body are derived from iron-rich clay that Robertson digs herself on her property at Nairne in the Mount Lofty Ranges and adds to commercially sourced Southern Ice porcelain. Her bowls are fine and quite delicate; handling one is like holding a speckled bird’s egg and elicits a similar reverence. The glaze is gentle and almost disconcerting as the fingers expect a shell or pebble-like surface. I bought this bowl after watching her seemingly effortlessly centre a lump of clay and then with only three pulls, transform the misshapen mud into a perfect vessel. It’s just the right size for soup, if I could only bring myself to sully it! For the moment it lives on the shelf next to my tiny 1958 Ford Thunderbird. Small bird, big egg.