This large work is the result of a period of inquiry and refinement of the bottle form. A fundamental shape is constructed geometrically on paper from lines and arcs. Versions are thrown at the wheel, and refined over several creation periods through a process of evaluation and selection. The curves that describe the underside are elongated and the waist heightened to give the form lift and presence, so that it occupies space as an individual work. The piece is made in a blend of porcelain, white and black stonewares, as well as blue, green and black pigments.

Luke Eastop is a ceramicist based in Margate, Kent. He worked as an artist and designer before taking up ceramics in the studio of his late grandfather, the potter Geoffrey Eastop. 

"My journey into working with clay started at the house and studio of my grandfather. I grew up surrounded by his work and this provided an environment that was especially formative. His studio was an aggregation of a lifetime of work; sacks of long-discontinued materials, notebooks of glaze recipes, throwing notes and sketches going back to the 1950s. The walls and shelves were full of curiosities and ephemera, a cow’s skull, a shard of German saltware, a faded newspaper cut-out of a ballerina next to one of the patterned flank of a whale shark. After my grandfather died, I moved there to work in his studio, and learned to make my own ceramics.”

Luke Eastop's work explores form and material though systematic processes and a dialogue between wheel-thrown objects and drawn, geometric investigations. This approach is an extension of previous work involving experimental design, typography and map-making and an interest in mathematics and geometry.

His ceramic works and drawings are exhibited in London and New York and he is also including a group piece Group III in the auction.