German artist Evelyn Bracklow has created a beautiful, traditional set of antique-style porcelain called “Chitins Gloss” with an unexpectedly playful twist – it looks like it’s crawling with an army of ants.

Fortunately, the ants are fake – each was painstakingly hand-painted by Bracklow to ensure that they look as realistic as possible. It’s a fun but strange work – the seemingly crawling ants contrast heavily with the immaculately and gracefully crafted porcelain.

Brackelow described the feeling pretty well: “Fear, disgust, fascination and admiration: this very interplay of feelings constitutes the charm of the work. Furthermore, to me, the ants symbolize all the stories that any formerly discarded piece of porcelain carries with it. Where one once dined and drank, today ants bustle in ever new formations, every single one applied with a great love for detail.”

Some pieces of her collection are for sale on her Etsy store. I certainly know a few people who I’d like to serve tea to with a set of porcelain like this, but I just hope that they don’t drop it, because the pieces start at $160.

porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-1 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-3 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-4 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-5 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-6 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-7 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-8 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-9 porcelain-dishes-covered-in-painted-ants-10Source: Etsy (via: thisiscolossal)

Elegant Porcelain Crawling With Creepy Hand-Painted Ants by Evelyn Bracklow originally appeared on Bored Panda.