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| Found Imari Dish |
Not long ago while perusing one of my favorite thrift shops (my boutiques!), I picked up a blue and white dish. In very good condition and better because the characters on the back did not say “made in Japan,” in English. I knew it was Imari ware but not much more than that. Well, it’s a good day when you discover you have found something really good at a thrift shop.
What is Imari ware you might ask? The origins of Japanese ceramics found that glazes made with iron oxide (red) and cobalt (blues) could be used to make unique wares and a long tradition was begun. Sometime later the trend for blue and white wares rose and by the late 19th-century westerners began to collect Oriental blue and white wares also.
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| Underglaze characters |
Among those favoring the ware were the French Impressionists often showing such ceramic items in their paintings or in the case of Monet using them on his dining table at Giverny. Ask me how I know.
One of the books I will not part with anytime soon is MONET’S TABLE. The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet ( Simon & Schuster, New York NY, c. 1989). Monets Table, The Cooking Journals of Claude Monet
“..the author Claire Joyes, wife of Madame Monet's great-grandson, has spent years selecting the Monets' favorite recipes and writing a wonderfully evocative introductory text. All of the recipes have been artfully prepared and brought back to life in Monet's own kitchen by master chef Joel Robuchon.” From amazon.com.
Not a cookbook in the traditional sense this is a feast for eyes, mind and mouth. Any student of art will recognize the name Monet, one of the foremost artists of impressionism and will also know Giverny, his home in France. This book is an absolute treasure complete with color photographs taken in the family dining room and offering the very recipes served then.  |
| Cyberattic image |
But I digress. The dish I found is shown at right with the back of the dish below. The second photo is from a website named Cyberattic. New to me the site popped up as I was searching “Imari” images and found, what else. . . the very same dish. What a thrill. Cyberattic Imari Ceramics. The dish was sold for US $12, about four times what I paid last week. Such a deal!
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| Licensed repros |
What else did I find? Monet’s china from Giverny has also been reproduced in both porcelain and more affordable ceramics. I picked up the yellow and blue rimmed bowl several years back but discovered in searching images that my dish is a wanna-be-Monet where the authentic productions have a more subdued yellow and grayer rim. Still the fun is in the hunt.
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| Wannabe Monet dish |
And speaking of grayed blues – amongst my favorite colors to use for backgrounds.
Did you know that mixing and coordinating grayed colors is much easier than working with intense colors? And why you might ask. Think about a grayed, mid-tone value of blue. To me this color has magical powers. Why? Read on.
A very smart and talented pastel artist once told me to stop buying white art paper to work pastel sketches. Since art paper comes in black, gray, white and a few pastels I wondered why white was not right for class assignments.
Because she explained if you work on; 1) white, you must fill in all the grays, shadows and you cannot work out the highlights but; if you buy 2) black, then you must make all the highlights and contours and it also looks like kitschy paintings on black velvet but; 3) if you begin with gray, taupe or a mid-value neutral then you have to option to add white to make highlights or darks for shadows. By working two directions from a middle value you will have far more control over the depth of light and shade in your picture. And she was right.
Then when I began to think about color scheming for interiors, the realization hit me. Sure use beige or white all you want – but if you want contrast start with a grayed color. In helping another artist friend set up a snazzy retail shop in Naples, Florida we pondered over colors that would make the merchandise look good. The answer was to use blues but in grayed values for walls and shelving backgrounds so the crafts, jewelry and paper products would always look brighter. Something akin to a Postal Uniform Blue, very easy on the eyes.
This same friend once decorated an apartment in Chicago on Lake Shore Drive, a small apartment in a very trendy building. We went shopping for white lamps. “Why all white,” I asked. The walls will be painted in mid-tone grayed pastels (some blue, some green), and the lamps with white shades will contrast with the walls and the light will seem brighter. She was absolutely right; the lamps were smashing in the daytime and even more so when lit at night. Even recovered upholstered furniture and repainted case pieces looked better against the neutral walls with white accents.
I proved this gray-theory some time ago in an apartment where I wanted to hang framed prints and drawings, all black and white. Since all the frames were all black I considered painting the wall black but knew that it would be too dark (and the landlord would hate it). The answer was gray. The tone was not too deep but once the wall was covered in the framed prints (floor to ceiling), very little of the wall was visible anyway and the gray did not pull the eye away from the art works. Perfection!
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| Thrift shop NWT |
Now I find myself making scrappy arrangements in fabrics, creating table linens and sorting through china, linens and flowers to create atmosphere for the dinner table. What works best?
Gray blue shows off antique china, makes silver gleam and even spectrum bright colors float over it without competing.
And when it comes to fashion, there may be an argument but think about this: how popular is denim? Right! and even faded denim is preferred to new denim jeans. Why? That color is just about right for everything.
DId you notice the placemat in the top photo? That was another find; all cotton, ribbed weave grayed-blue placemats.
Can that be serendipity? We will discuss that another day. bb
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