6 MAR 2026

Day 65

Man is condemned to be free.

Jean-Paul Sartre · Being and Nothingness

Two tall porcelain vases with narrow necks, bulbous bodies, and flared feet, decorated in cobalt blue on white with dense floral and cloud patterns, and fitted with elephant-head handles at the shoulders.

I · THE OBJECT · BRITISH MUSEUM

The David Vases

Yuan dynasty China · 1351 · Porcelain with cobalt underglaze

Two vases dedicated at a provincial temple, inscribed with a date that anchored the chronology of an entire ceramic tradition — and reunited centuries later in a London collection.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

II · THE IDEA · ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Sampling Many Answers

Reasoning and architecture · Self-consistency sampling · 2022

A model asked the same question several times will often produce different chains of thought. The majority answer is frequently more reliable than any single attempt.

Enter lesson 6 MIN

A carved ivory vessel with a lid, densely decorated with human figures in European dress and bands of geometric interlace, standing on a footed base.

III · THE WORK · ART HISTORY

A Sapi-Portuguese Ivory Saltcellar

Sapi-Portuguese · c. 1490–1530 · Elephant ivory

Within a generation of first contact, Sapi carvers in Sierra Leone were making lidded vessels for European tables, mixing their own geometric tradition with figures in doublets and hose.

Enter lesson 6 MIN