Patrick Caulfield – Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware

£1,250.00

Artist: Patrick Caulfield

Artwork: Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware

Year: 1990

Medium: Screenprint

Edition: Limited edition of 45

Artwork Size: 108 × 81 cm

Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware, created in 1990, is a striking example of Patrick Caulfield’s distinctive approach to still life, combining crisp graphic lines, flattened perspective and carefully controlled areas of colour.

Caulfield frequently transformed familiar domestic objects into precisely constructed compositions, reducing forms to their essential elements while exploring the relationship between objects, space and representation. In this work, the juxtaposition of the lamp and Lung Ch’uan ware creates a carefully balanced interior scene in which everyday objects take on a heightened visual presence.

The clean outlines and graphic simplicity associated with Caulfield’s work sit alongside a sophisticated interest in light, perspective and the traditions of still-life painting. The result is an image that appears immediately accessible while revealing a more complex exploration of how we perceive objects and the spaces they inhabit.

Produced in 1990 as a limited edition of just 45, Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware is a strong example of Caulfield’s unmistakable printmaking language and his important contribution to post-war British art.

Artist: Patrick Caulfield

Artwork: Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware

Year: 1990

Medium: Screenprint

Edition: Limited edition of 45

Artwork Size: 108 × 81 cm

Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware, created in 1990, is a striking example of Patrick Caulfield’s distinctive approach to still life, combining crisp graphic lines, flattened perspective and carefully controlled areas of colour.

Caulfield frequently transformed familiar domestic objects into precisely constructed compositions, reducing forms to their essential elements while exploring the relationship between objects, space and representation. In this work, the juxtaposition of the lamp and Lung Ch’uan ware creates a carefully balanced interior scene in which everyday objects take on a heightened visual presence.

The clean outlines and graphic simplicity associated with Caulfield’s work sit alongside a sophisticated interest in light, perspective and the traditions of still-life painting. The result is an image that appears immediately accessible while revealing a more complex exploration of how we perceive objects and the spaces they inhabit.

Produced in 1990 as a limited edition of just 45, Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware is a strong example of Caulfield’s unmistakable printmaking language and his important contribution to post-war British art.

A standout from Caulfield’s refined White Ware series, Lamp and Lung Ch’uan Ware distills the essence of still life into something cool, crisp, and deeply graphic. A white ceramic vessel—referencing Lung Ch’uan porcelain from Song Dynasty China—sits beneath a shaft of stark white light, while a lampshade hovers beside it, barely distinguishable from the dark background. Shadow and silhouette take centre stage, reducing form and space to near-abstraction.

Inspired by East Asian ceramics catalogued by the V&A, Caulfield used light not to mimic nature but to build structure. “I’m not actually painting from observation,” he said. “I’m making up an idea of how light could appear to be.” The result is a body of work that’s both philosophical and visual—thinking hard about what it means to see, while staying visually irresistible.