A Mosaic of Broken Pottery

Jagged shards of broken pottery cover the frame, painted faces turned up: blue-and-white willow pattern china with pagodas and birds, pink and yellow floral chintz, solid glazed pieces in forest green, mustard, and burgundy, and rough terracotta fragments in warm orange-brown. Each shard is a different size and angle, some long slivers, others broad chunks, and their pale cream edges mark where they broke, giving every piece a visible outline against its neighbors. No two willow-pattern fragments show quite the same part of the scene, so a bridge appears on one shard and a boat or a bird on another close by. The floral pieces carry roses and small blossoms in soft pastels that stand out against the bolder solid colors nearby. Nothing here suggests a shelf, a table, or a whole vessel; the shards themselves are the entire picture. The range of colors and patterns, paired with the jagged edges, makes each fragment easy to single out.