I had jury duty and when you are on jury duty in Philadelphia, you bring a few books, maybe a crossword puzzle, some snacks and whatever else allows you to pass the time because there is a lot of waiting before you are either selected to serve on a jury or dismissed. You serve for one day or one trial.Â
I brought a couple of old catalogs from a pottery auction in the early 1990s.  I spent my waiting time pouring through pictures of work by the likes of  Bernard Leach, Lucie Rie, and  Mary Rogers. Â
Which brings me to The Kiln Waster.  The Kiln Waster  is the opposite of inspiration.  If it were possible to have a front-end car collision in a kiln, The Kiln Waster would be the result.  See for yourself:
Kiln Waster refers to tin-glazed earthenware dishes that collapse in a kiln during firing and fuse to each other and to the  kiln furniture.  The above example is from Delft, Holland  circa 1655. Â
I came face to face (or face to plate) with the Kiln Waster at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Â I had gone to the V&A to see its well-known jewelry collection. Â Â I did not know, however, was that the V&AÂ is also home to a fabulous, HUGE (huge as in rooms and rooms and shelves upon shelves) collection of ceramics and pottery dating from ancient times to the present day. Â And while pottery from the Americas is not largely represented, Â you’ll find just about everything else in the V&A collection.
Unfortunately, the V&A does not have a book or catalog of the collection for sale in its museum shop. Â I would would have loved to buy one. Â But the museum allowed visitors to take pictures and I snapped and gawked and gawked and snapped. Â Â If you get to London, run to the V&A to see this astounding collection. Â The next time I am in London, I plan to go back. Â If you want to search the collection online, press here.
Here are some  pictures of pottery that fared better than The Kiln Waster