Black-and-White Porcelain Flower II

A study in graphic restraint, this shadowbox composition by John Richard frames ceramic florals in the spare, high-contrast vocabulary of classical chinoiserie — rendered modern through the precision of its mirror-glass finish. At eighteen inches square and set into a shallow three-inch depth, the piece commands a wall with the authority of sculpture while retaining the intimate scale of a considered object. The reflective ground amplifies light and deepens the monochromatic tension between the ceramic blooms and their field, producing an effect that shifts quietly with the hour.