Making It to the Met

“Possessed” is how Cliff Lee, maker of porcelain vessels inspired by nature, describes the state of mind that drove him to spend 17 years perfecting his signature glaze, a rich imperial yellow from the Ming Dynasty that had been lost to the ages.

Lee was a brain surgeon until 1978, when he gave it up to pursue his passion for clay. (Seriously.) “Education never fades away,” he says. “How you apply it is different.”

Take Prickly Melons (2011), two pieces from a series of meticulously formed and carved interpretations of the fruit. He applies the prickles individually, often losing some in the kiln. “Each is like a hair, thinner than a needle.” He has a sore elbow from the painstaking work but, hey, he says, “no pain, no gain.”

The melons caught the eye of Denise Leidy, curator of Asian art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who acquired a pair for the permanent collection, a rare distinction for a living artist. “I feel humbled, very honored,” says Lee, who grew up in Taiwan. “Obviously my ancestors did something right.” The pieces are now among 250 works on display in the Met’s newly reinstalled Chinese ceramics collection, a context Lee’s ancestors would no doubt enjoy.

“The story I hope to tell is the continuous impact of Chinese ceramics on world ceramics,” says Leidy, who calls Lee’s pieces “traditional with a modern sensibility.”

Joyce Lovelace is American Craft’s contributing editor.