Mary Hong's Oyster Shells I

A commanding composition by John Richard, *Mary Hong's Oyster Shells I* arrives at a substantial 46 by 36 inches, its depth of three and a half inches suggesting a work that inhabits a room rather than merely adorning it. Applied leaf and gold catch and redistribute light beneath a vitreous finish sealed in tempered glass, lending the surface an almost liquid luminosity that shifts with the hours. The result is a piece of uncommon presence — simultaneously architectural and organic, as suited to a serious collector's library as to a grand salon.