Name: CLIFF LEE (AMERICAN, b. 1951)
Brand: PRICKLY MELON
Price: 1600.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

CLIFF LEE (AMERICAN, b. 1951)
PRICKLY MELON
signed and dated 'Cliff Lee 2006' (on the underside)
glazed porcelain
11 in. (27.9 cm.) high
Executed in 2006.

Acquired from the artist by the current owners, 6 December 2008.

For an example of the same model, see Bell, N., Dietz, U.G., and Wagner, A., exhibition catalogue, History in the Making: Renwick Craft Invitational 2011, Washington, D.C., 2011, pp.46-47, fig. 25.

For an example of the same model, see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Studies in Global Ceramic History, New York, 2015.

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Lot Essay

Cliff Lee came to the United States from Taiwan at the age of 15. He pursued medicine and while practicing as a neurosurgeon, he decided on a whim to enroll in a ceramics class at James Madison University in 1976. He subsequently left his career in medicine to dedicate his time to ceramics. Lee studied Sung-dynasty glazes and reinvented the ancient Chinese formulas for celadon and Imperial yellow. Lee says ‘I love yellow so much that I was almost possessed by it’. His work has been recognized by world leaders, such as United States President Bill Clinton and Mrs. Clinton, who asked Lee and other artists to contribute to the White House Collection of American Crafts. Additionally, his ceramics are included in several permanent collections of important institutions, such as the National Museum of American Art at the Smithsonian, The Renwick Gallery in Washington, D.C. and the Museum of Metropolitan Art in New York.