Ceramics

The work and its context

Ceramics is project 417 on the Art Blocks V2 core contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, published under the canonical slug ceramics-by-charlotte-dann and credited to Charlotte Dann. The indexed project record reports a completed edition of 300 of 300 invocations, runtime three@0.124.0, and the official description: Inside the computer there’s a digital hand. The hand selects a metal implement, cuts off a slab of clay, and carves into its surface. It wanders like your hand wanders; it carves imaginary contours, sinuous and exploratory. It doesn’t know the end result so it carves lines until it feels content, and then it numbers the piece and stamps its maker’s mark. It fires the slab in a digital kiln (it calls this “minting”) and through this act its art is preserved for millennia. The hand runs its fingers over the textured surface, feeling satisfaction at having spontaneously produced a piece of art so beautiful, expressive, and unique. ---   Ceramics is a generative sculpture that mimics the physical expression of carving into clay. Through uncanny naturalistic rendering it challenges our notion of “handmade”. It asserts that the value of handmade isn’t the time it takes to make the work nor the physical materials consumed, but the endless small decisions and serendipitous details that appear along the way, as can be felt in each Ceramics mint. Despite the handmade nature of Ceramics the outputs cannot be touched. Highly tactile images enchant the viewer to imagine their tangible representations, and leave them to dwell on their perception of materiality , both in the experiential physical world and conceptually-infinite digital space. ¹²

Those figures are current index observations retrieved on 2026-09-19, not a reconstruction of the original public sale announcement. Atlas position is a catalogue ordinal and is not the on-chain project ID. The live collection page and the Hasura projects_metadata row agree on title, slug, contract, and project ID after a filtered query that used the exact slug. ¹²

Contract 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. Aspect ratio indexed as 1.0. Website https://charlottedann.com/ceramics.

This essay treats the stored artist program, four independently identified outputs, and a freshly checked AB5D holding (or an explicit collection gap) as primary evidence. Metadata traits are cited only when they were returned for the same V2 contract token IDs that were visually inspected. They do not replace looking at the pictures. ³⁴

Conception and development

The official project description is the development account used here. Interview or dossier sentences that name a different slug are not treated as statements about this series. Inside the computer there’s a digital hand. The hand selects a metal implement, cuts off a slab of clay, and carves into its surface. It wanders like your hand wanders; it carves imaginary contours, sinuous and exploratory. It doesn’t know the end result so it carves lines until it feels content, and then it numbers the piece and stamps its maker’s mark. It fires the slab in a digital kiln (it cal

The development account used here is the specific source named in the citations, not a paraphrase of an artist-dossier page. Where that account is an official project description written in the artist's voice, that limit is stated rather than upgraded into an unpublished studio diary. Where an interview exists, the sentences that actually name Ceramics are the ones relied on. ⁵¹

Secondary pages that only repeat the marketplace listing are not treated as independent conception sources. ²⁵

How the work was constructed

The complete artist program for slug ceramics-by-charlotte-dann was retrieved from projects_metadata.script filtered by that exact slug. The UTF-8 payload is 28489 bytes with SHA-256 1a8e915063c44df9cdfff77f4f8afb283bf7622b802592f02e719f99f0c35fe3. Runtime on the project record is three@0.124.0. The script was read in full; it was not executed in this research session. ⁶

The stored generator is 28489 bytes, SHA-256 1a8e915063c44df9cdfff77f4f8afb283bf7622b802592f02e719f99f0c35fe3, runtime three@0.124.0. Detected source markers: draw, createCanvas, THREE, WebGLRenderer, tokenData, hash. Named functions include no function keyword matches. tokenData.hash is read in source. Output then follows the drawing path those functions implement. Token 0 observation: Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 59,77,72). File size 6119234 bytes. Indexed features: Tool Pointed; Frame Thick; Glaze Jade; Scale Medium; Layers One; Density Dense; Mishima None; Material Glazed Terracotta

Visual claims come from inspected media-proxy PNGs plus indexed token features.

Seed handling is visible in the retrieved program: tokenData.hash is read in source. Time and interaction behaviour in code is: Source contains a continuing-draw or audio/WebGL constructor. The inspected PNG is one frame. Live timing and soundtrack were not captured this session. A handler found in source is not the same thing as a control that was pressed in a live renderer during this session; tested controls are listed only when an actual key or pointer action was performed. ⁶⁷

External dependencies are those declared by script_type_and_version plus any library identifiers inside the file. Public visibility of the stored script does not grant a right to redistribute the raw artist source in this package, so the analysis cites functions and byte length rather than reprinting the program. ⁶⁸

The mint

Indexed chronology for project 417 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069 is as follows. First token minted_at is 2023-01-30T23:50:59+00:00. activated_at is 2023-03-09T03:30:47+00:00. start_datetime is 2023-03-15T17:00:00+00:00. completed_at is 2023-03-15T17:45:11+00:00. Invocations stand at 300 of a maximum 300, with complete=true on the retrieved row. ²³

Calculated intervals from those timestamps: first mint to activation is 37.15 days; activation to start_datetime is 6.56 days; start_datetime to completion is 45.2 minutes; first mint to completion is 43.75 days. These are differences of indexed clock fields, not a claim about when a web storefront button became visible to every collector. A first mint that precedes start_datetime is treated as an early or reserved mint unless a separate allocation record is produced. ²³

Indexed clocks: first 2023-01-30T23:50:59+00:00, activated 2023-03-09T03:30:47+00:00, start 2023-03-15T17:00:00+00:00, completed 2023-03-15T17:45:11+00:00. Early first-mint timestamps are not labelled reserved without a separate allocation record.

Historic per-token ETH prices for the original public sale were not recovered from a primary price table during this session and remain unresolved. Any floor price visible on a marketplace page in 2026 is a current listing observation, not the 2021 ask. ¹²

Copyright and licensing

The project record stores the artwork licence label 'CC BY-NC 4.0'. That string includes an explicit 4.0 version and is treated as Creative Commons version 4.0. Code rights for the artist program are not separately labelled on the same field; they are treated as unknown rather than assumed identical to the artwork deed. ²⁸

Artwork label copied exactly as 'CC BY-NC 4.0'.

Third-party runtime three@0.124.0 is a separate rights object from both the artwork outputs and the artist source. p5.js, three.js, and ordinary browser JavaScript each keep their own licence texts. This package does not redistribute those libraries. ⁶⁸

Original essay prose in this package is dedicated CC0-1.0 by the research operator. That dedication does not change the artwork, code, or dependency licences.

Close reading of examples

Ceramics #0 is token 417000000 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-01-30T23:50:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 59,77,72). File size 6119234 bytes. Indexed features: Tool Pointed; Frame Thick; Glaze Jade; Scale Medium; Layers One; Density Dense; Mishima None; Material Glazed Terracotta Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Tool Pointed; Frame Thick; Glaze Jade; Scale Medium; Layers One; Density Dense; Mishima None; Material Glazed Terracotta. ³⁹⁴

Ceramics #1 is token 417000001 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-03-15T17:19:35+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 183,167,137). File size 5021591 bytes. Indexed features: Tool Angled; Frame Thick; Glaze None; Scale Medium; Layers Two; Density Dense; Mishima None; Material Raw Fire Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Tool Angled; Frame Thick; Glaze None; Scale Medium; Layers Two; Density Dense; Mishima None; Material Raw Fire. ³⁹⁴

Ceramics #10 is token 417000010 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-03-15T17:30:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, dark and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 91,60,56). File size 4433139 bytes. Indexed features: Tool Grooved; Frame Thick; Glaze None; Scale Macro; Layers Many; Density Compact; Mishima None; Material Raw Terracotta Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Tool Grooved; Frame Thick; Glaze None; Scale Macro; Layers Many; Density Compact; Mishima None; Material Raw Terracotta. ³⁹⁴

Ceramics #20 is token 417000020 on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069, minted 2023-03-15T17:31:59+00:00. The canonical token page returned HTTP 200. The inspected media-proxy PNG is a static frame. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, light and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 175,192,186). File size 12517933 bytes. Indexed features: Tool Angled; Frame Thick; Glaze White Pearl; Scale Medium; Layers Many; Density Loose; Mishima None; Material Glazed Buff Indexed features returned for this V2 token: Tool Angled; Frame Thick; Glaze White Pearl; Scale Medium; Layers Many; Density Loose; Mishima None; Material Glazed Buff. ³⁹⁴

The AB5D header candidate is token 417000019 (edition 19), currently indexed to 0xdd19308a9731cdecb67e0d80ca6823394208c045, which is one of the three linked addresses returned for username ab5d on 2026-09-19. That ownership match is a present-tense index observation, not proof of continuous custody since mint. Inspected media-proxy PNG is 2400x2400px, mid-tone and muted or near-neutral (mean RGB 69,79,70). File size 6532728 bytes. Indexed features: Tool Pointed; Frame Thick; Glaze Jade; Scale Medium; Layers Many; Density Loose; Mishima None; Material Glazed Terracotta ¹⁰³⁴

Motion, interaction, and audio: Source contains a continuing-draw or audio/WebGL constructor. The inspected PNG is one frame. Live timing and soundtrack were not captured this session. The static PNGs document halt or preview states. They are not by themselves proof that a live loop is still running, nor proof that a work is silent. No soundtrack was heard from these pages during this session. ⁴⁷⁶

Significance and limitations

Ceramics is project 417 by Charlotte Dann on 0x99a9b7c1116f9ceeb1652de04d5969cce509b069. The close readings above are the evidence for what the stored program outputs.

Unresolved research questions that remain after this pass: (1) What was the exact public-sale unit price in ETH at start_datetime, supported by a contemporaneous primary source rather than a later floor? (2) For tokens whose live renderer was not stopwatch-timed, what is the measured wall-clock period of one full cycle or one completed progressive draw? (3) What contemporaneous primary source records the original public unit price in ETH? (4) Incomplete Control aside, do any of the three current AB5D wallets later acquire or dispose of the header token used above after 2026-09-19? ²¹⁰⁷

This package is a draft for human review. Structural validation tests file shape, not the truth of seeing or of licence interpretation.