Xuan Large Sculptural Ceramic Vase

Handcrafted by Dan Dong, CH, c. 2025

Half a meter tall, this monumental vase commands space with its bulbous silhouette and dramatic curvature. The hand-painted pattern of alternating black and ivory tessellations flows seamlessly across the vessel’s expanding and contracting contours—a feat of exceptional skill that merges sculptural tension with rhythmic restraint. Designed as a centerpiece, it distills Dong Dan’s material mastery into a singular visual statement.

Named for Xuan (玄), a classical Chinese term signifying the profound, the unknowable, and the darkly luminous, the piece reflects Dan Dong’s interest in quiet spatial tension and subtle contrasts. A practitioner of Jizhou kiln techniques and glaze experimentation, he reinterprets Song Dynasty traditions through pared-back silhouettes and visual rhythm.

Sold individually.

“They come from my purest focus — a perfect roundness, a profound black, serene as a monument.”

Dan Dong’s ceramics are a testament to precision and serenity. Each piece is shaped by hand, achieving a flawless roundness, while the deep black glaze—crafted from Sichuan clay and straw ash—strikes a delicate balance between gloss and matte. Inspired by the ancient Jizhou kiln patterns, his designs feature intricate dots and circles that seem to expand and multiply, evoking the infinite cycles of nature.

For Dan, creating ceramics is a disciplined practice. Every vessel undergoes a meticulous process of shaping, firing, and glazing, where even the smallest error can mean starting over. Yet, it is through this exacting process that his work achieves its quiet elegance—a reflection of life’s fragile balance, timeless in its simplicity and profound in its beauty.