Ceramics of Seduction

Book excerpt: Ceramics of Seduction: Glazed wares from Southeast Asia, provides an opportunity to see and learn about the broad range of wares, mainly glazed, produced in kilns located in five countries of present day Southeast Asia; Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand and Laos. Each country developed a fascinating ceramics tradition that reflects the creativity of their people and the skills of the anonymous potters. To appreciate their beauty one should keep in mind the main characteristics of these wares: simplicity of form, earthly qualities of the clay and glaze, and restrained decoration. Ceramics of Seduction illustrates some 280 pieces from the Francisco Capelo collection, assembled in the last 15 years and by whom a short foreword is included. This book is enriched greatly by an insightful essay by Dawn E. Rooney, an eminent art historian of Southeast Asia. AUTHOR: Dawn F. Rooney, PhD, is an independent scholar and an art historian specialising in Southeast Asia. She is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Asiatic Society in London, an advisor to the Society for Asian Art at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, and co-chairperson of the James H.W. Thompson Foundation Advisory Board, Bangkok, and the Thailand representative for the International Map Collectors' Society. She was awarded a Scholar in Residence at The Rockefeller Foundation Study Center in Bellagio, Italy in 2002. She was appointed to the Board of Directors for the Center for Khmer Studies (CKS) in January 2009. She is the author of nine books on the art and culture of Southeast Asia. Her latest book, Ancient Sukhothai, Thailand's Cultural Heritage was published by River Books in 2008. Dawn F. Rooney is an American who resides in Bangkok, Thailand. 311 colour illustrations