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A glazed teapot wrapped entirely in overlapping sardines forms the centerpiece of the new exhibition, its scaled surface curling from spout to lid in a single unbroken shoal.
Officials and guests gather around a display table at the opening of Ahmet Mesut Yilmaz Social Facilities in Cayeli, a Black Sea district of Rize roughly 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) east of Istanbul, where the ceramic exhibition debuts.
A cluster of teapots on a linen-draped table sets the tone for the show: a dress-shaped vessel in soft green, a piled confection glazed in pink and gold, a woven basket form in pale clay, and a deep blue piece textured like folded fabric.
Three surreal teapots stand apart from the rest, built around invented machinery rather than tableware: a googly-eyed robot face, a miniature figure sealed beneath a glass dome atop a gear-covered vessel, and a spiked teal form beside a rust-toned piece etched with a rose.
A latticed clay structure rises around a small dark creature perched at its center, its rippled walls fanning into loose tendrils, while a glossy brown teapot and a cream one dotted with green leaves sit nearby on stone paving outside the facility.
Titled "Madam Dem," a black piece by ceramic artist Elif Sertepe balances on three curled, polka-dotted legs, its rounded body marked with soft cream patches and a domed lid topped by a spotted finial.
A striped black-and-white lizard climbs the curve of a mustard-yellow teapot, its clawed feet gripping the surface beneath a conical lid crowned with a red knob, the piece resting on small blue feet.
A ring-shaped teapot in cream and black glaze curves into a horse-like head with a small bird perched at its crown, its cracked surface patterned with leaves, standing beside a similarly coiled black-and-cream companion piece.
Hundreds of hand-formed white petals with yellow centers blanket a teapot's rounded body, the dense floral texture broken only by a pale green spout, handle, and lid that peek out from beneath the covering.
A teapot shaped like a single curled cabbage leaf, veined in deep green and topped by a small red ladybug, sits beside a smaller vessel entirely encrusted in ruffled crimson petals resembling a full-blown rose.
A flattened terracotta vessel takes the form of a fish standing upright on a pedestal base, its body ridged with painted fins in pink, green, and gold that fan out from a narrow spout at its crown.
Closing the gallery, a boat-shaped vessel in blue and cream carries a scaled fish head as its handle, the fish's tail arcing upward from the stern while a smaller red fish rests atop the cabin lid.
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