A handmade porcelain teacup gathers a complex web
of signs and meanings. Physically it is a drinking vessel with a handle and as
such demands to be picked up by the handle and filled to near but not touching
the rim. Picking up a teacup by the handle obliges us to place it down with the
handle to one side, a gesture and placement that immediately invites further
picking up and putting down. The fact that very soon this cup is going to be in
contact with our lips conditions our behaviour so that we never conventionally
pick up a cup by the rim. Already,
before we even use this object for the purpose of drinking it has changed our
actions. The network of cultural and
historical meanings embedded within a teacup has made us, the top predator,
maker of tools, act differently.
