The table in the hall: a carved round base and a carved end panel joined by a sheet of glass, with marble stairs behind

THE POT REMEMBERS

Part Two · The Object

Looking down into the round base: the lidded pot held inside the reddish wood, beneath the glass

The pot, kept whole

One pot is preserved exactly as it was surrendered unpolished, unrepaired, its rim worn thin by decades of service. It is enshrined within ironwood that itself is several decades old untouched, so that the marks of the years remain legible. Nothing is restored. Everything is kept.

Through an opening in the carved base, a ball of forged metal

The others, reforged

The remaining pots were taken to the fire a final time. Their metal was drawn out and forged into ball like shapes and enshrined within the one intact pot inside the structure that now holds the legacy of all three.

The end panel, carved in relief with twelve figures; the lower row stand with pots

What it means

3 Pots that fed tens of thousands, enclosed in iron wood that will endure for centuries. The enduring story of the oldest human activity (feeding) cut into the same iron wood by the technology of the future. A table that fed tens of thousands and seated at it, feeding the owner still. It is not a possession but a continuance: a table that feeds forever.

Details

The round base, carved in a scale-like texture, with its reddish wood top beneath the glass

The carved end panel holding the glass top

The round base from the side, showing the opening in its carving

One work. Never repeated in this form.

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