Segway--An Oddity

We're at it again--Working on another house. And in a conversation with my contractor about things found within walls, I was reminded of this sheet of paper we found tacked up between the studs of the old kitchen we remodeled.  

It does make you stop in your tracks and realize that, although we live in an age we think is a bit chaotic,  the future must have looked pretty bleak in 1942 when this was printed.  

I must get this down to my local historical society for their collection.

I'm super excited about the finding of Richard III's bones.  Since I started chasing ancestors, I've found many lines back to the Plantagenet family.

Although mine had moved out of the powerful mainstream by the time Richard came around,  they were lesser to minor royals by then.

Records were well preserved within the titled people, so if you find a solid link, it's not that hard to go back to the Conqueror. And his line goes back to Charlemagne. Even then, it's not that unusual to discover the descent--probably half of Europe could do this.

What I did find amazing is the huge number of French, Spanish, Russian, Scandinavian, Irish and Scots I've found. Even links to the real Blackadder family in Scotland!

All just on my mother's side.


Can't wait to see what Richard really looked like.

And I hope they also test the little skeletons found under the stairs in the Tower. Now it's going to be easier to identify them for sure.

5000 Year Old Pottery

I monitor a website that has a daily round-up of archeological news.

This article caught my interest because of the location of the site and the long history of digs that have gone on there.

http://www.tehrantimes.com/highlights/95935-shahr-e-sukhteh-unearthing-the-5000-year-old-city

The "Burnt City" was a place crossroad of cultures and trade and the habitat of artists of many disciplines.

The pottery is as fresh and beautiful as work done today and has been amazingly undisturbed due to the location of the dig is now a far more harsh environment

Who knew dice were this old?

Two Pitchers

More from my files:

I often wonder if pitchers are going to be a thing of the past. At one show I where I had a booth, a potter remarked to me that the younger generation hardly knows what they are.

If you think about it, we don't use pitchers nearly as much as earlier generations did.

Nearly all our liquids come in either plastic or cardboard-like boxes.

These two pitchers are literally worlds apart.

The Chinese one looks like castle walls, roof tiles, curly toed boots and heavy fur-lined coats. I find it interesting that the structure above the handle serves no purpose except decoration. The pitcher is solid. straightforward and no nonsense. I also like the idea of the lid.

The glaze is perfect for the form.

This pitcher is all elegance and practicality at the same time. It is designed to hold a lot of liquid.

The spout would certainly pour and do that generously. I'm guessing it is a large piece meant to hold water or a liquid that would be used liberally. It's primary use was probably for water.

The handle is hefty, yet very decorative. It's almost too light for the rest of the vessel. Because it is decorated in a reference to a dog head, I would guess it was made in either France or Germany, since both those countries used that motif in their handles.

The design touch of banding serves as to emphasize the wonderful curve of the pouring lip, the roundness of the body. What an elegant piece.

More Banquet Table Garnitures

Okay.

I found some pictures finally.

This is close to the kind of table decorations I was talking about. And this example is ceramic.


Totally over the top:

It's still not the kind I've been looking for, but close.

I don't know if you would be able to find the food with this all over the table.

Some of these elaborate decorations were constructed with sugar.

If you saw the movie Vatel about Francoise Vatel, the legendary chef, you would remember the elaborate work done with glaced fruit and sugar baskets arranged for one grand banquet....

Here's something that might work in modern settings.

I've often thought of making an entire table ensemble to use for serving a full curry meal with warming dishes for the sauce and rice; small interlocking condiments dishes to match.

http://www.historicfood.com is a great site to explore.

Footnote to the previous post----

The little verse seen on the sculpture in the previous post is a quote from an inscription said to be engraved around the silver collar of a dog belonging to Prince Fredrick of Wales, eldest son of King George II. Said to have been given to the prince by Alexander Pope, Probably similar to the one shown.

--Looks uncomfortable for the dog.

"I am his majesty's dog at Kew,

Pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?"

So, in other words, I began to stop being my job's dog and become my 'own dog' - mentally at least. : )

Weird and Wonderful World of Clay

Wonders never cease when it comes to what some manufacturers made out of clay. Here's the great-great grandson of William Copeland, Spode's original business partner, demonstrating a china footbath.

I'm sure this is decorated with either blue and white or sepia colored transfer prints.

Just look at the lugs on the thing. Must have weighted a ton when filled with water.

Anyway, this photo appears in "Spode and Copeland Marks" by Robert Copeland, printed in the U.K. and available at a pricey $170+ through various used book sellers.

Cadogan Teapots

The story goes that Lord Cadogan, 1675-1726, fell in love with these little Chinese wine pots and imported them into England to serve tea. The story may or may not be true--some say it was Lady Cadogan who brought them to England. But that's not really here or there except to explain the name.

At any rate, these little pots, which only hold about a cup, were then adapted and manufactured in the English potteries.

Many Victorian examples were larger, brown and with the figure of a squirrel on top.

As you can see, there is no lid. Yet it pours out liquid.

How can that be? The secret of how they work can be seen in this modern glass one.

Inside, an inverted funnel shape is the key. The wide part of the funnel is part of the base; the small opening is at the top.

To fill, turn the pot over (be sure to stop the end of the spout with your finger) and fill with liquid. Turn it right side up again by gently laying it on it's side and inverting. (The side-turn keeps the hole at the top of the funnel clear, although a few drops may escape.)

The liquid that was poured into the top when the vessel is inverted will pool into the bottom of the pot. The liquid cannot rise higher than the top of the funnel-opening. The pot can be filled as high as the inside funnel and up part of the spout. The bottom of the spout is located rather low on the pot for this reason.

For the potter, they are easier to make than you would think. The trick is to make the inner funnel first, then pull the outer walls of the form up around it, leaving the inner cavity fat at the bottom and closing the vessel in at the top. The spout is attached just the same as with a regular teapot, but you must smooth the inner seam without being able to see it.

Here's one I made and (hopefully) it will be accepted into a show coming up.

Those Victorians

I have a wonderful book on Wedgewood. I bought it in the UK years ago. It shows many unusual clay things made during the history of the company.

Like and egg-shaped bell pull.

Now I ask you.

Or how about a Georgian Period egg beater?

A Water Color Set?

(Probably best used by decorative ladies in the parlor.)





But this one.

This one just kills me. It's a tilt teapot.

It is meant to sit two different ways.

See the separate compartment at the top of the pot? It has tiny holes in the bottom or floor of the compartment.

This is where the loose tea leaves go.

Then, the pot is filled with hot water and tilted backward toward the handle. What you cannot see are additional feet at the back. They are designed as a separate set of legs to hold the pot when it is tilted backward. The hot water flows into the top/back compartment through the strainer holes and over the tea leaves.

When the tea has steeped and ready to pour, the pot would be set upright again as shown, the water would flow away from the tea leaf section into the body of the pot.

You would certainly have to hold onto that lid.

Seems like an awful lot of trouble for what appears to be maybe one or two cups of tea.

A Most Unique Pot

While surfing the web for spout examples, I ran across these pots. And pots they truly are!

These are "Coach Pots" or "Bourdaloues".

They are also sometimes called "Banquet","Crinoline", "Ball" or "Sermon Pots".

They originated in France during the reign of Louis XIV.

It seems the court priest, Louis Bourdaloues was known for his hours-long sermons.

And of course, everyone who was in court was expected to attend his services.

The ladies, arrayed in elaborate dresses and petticoats, could not exit to use the facilities without causing a noticeable disturbance, so the use of these little porcelain pots came into use.

Thank heavens for discreet ladies' maids.

Today, these little pots command very high prices at antique sales and auctions.

In all the museums I've visited I have never seen one. But then, of course, they were not made over a long period of time. The one pictured at the left was manufactured in England.

Silver Coffee Service, A Story

When my husband was a young junior Naval officer and we were stationed in Norfolk VA, I was asked to help at a big reception in the Officer's Club on base. The club was a neo-classical, columned building which had been a part of the 1907 Jamestown Exhibition, built on what was then Sewell's Point. Many beautiful and some extravagant buildings were built at the time prior to making it into a Naval base. The O'Club and some buildings from the Exhibition survive to this day.

The main room of the club was appropriately impressive and was set up with a large table at one end. Placed at each end of the table was a massive silver service, much like the one pictured. One end was for coffee, the other for tea. In between was a sea of white and gold-banded teacups and plates of hors d'oeuvres.

I had arrived in my Sunday-best clothes and was asked to sit at one end of the big table and man the coffee pot. And MAN is the operative word here! That puppy was heavy. I began serving coffee sitting, but being 5'2" tall meant that I had to lift that pot high enough to aim the spigot at a cup and not spill a drop. It became immediately apparent this wasn't going to work, so I stood to serve. I was very amused when the lady 'way at the other end of the table stood up also.

New pots of hot coffee were brought out from the kitchen to recharge the pot. By the time my 2 or 3 hours were up, I really felt like I had had a workout!

So let me explain about these silver services. It had been the tradition that early in the Navy's history, large, heavy tea services were part of every major ship and base's equipment for entertaining visiting dignitaries and for important social events. (The service pictured here is one from a battleship*.) They were often made special order from major silver manufacturers and double or triple plated to protect from them the corrosive sea air. While ships were deployed, many times replacement pieces or special pieces were contracted for in the place the ship was moored. For instance, several years ago I found a set of silver finger bowls with the Naval insignia impressed on the sides.

Admiral's messes also had special-order china with the Navy crest and gold banding; heavy silverware was used in the officer's mess. My children thought it was a real treat to have dinner with the officers in the mess when my husband was also standing watch for a night. They learned early how to handle so many spoons and forks. They remember it now as very special and it was.

Today's military does not separate officers from enlisted personnel for food service and the clubs serve combined ranks these days, so many of these heavy silver tea and coffee services are now either in museums, or, in the case of battleships, they have gone back to the state for which the ship was named.

*This set is from the battleship North Carolina.

Coffee Pots

Not many potters make coffee pots. Maybe it's because coffee pots are too complicated. Heat needed at the bottom, perking or dripping the water through, the grounds problem, etc.

Maybe it's because coffee is never (well, hardly ever) moved from the pot that made it.

This is an experimental pot I made just to explore the form. It would work for hot syrup just as well as for one or two cups of coffee, I suppose. Not that a coffee shaped clay piece couldn't be used for tea, mind you.

The exercise got me thinking about coffee pots in general.

Did you know that Chemex® still makes that famous glass drip pot to this day?

(www.chemexcoffeemaker.com)

They now make one without the wooden/leather collar that has a glass handle. Not the funky look, but more practical.

If you wished, I suppose it would be possible to make a pottery one, but then, there's much to be said about watching the coffee being made in glass.

What, in our collective Western minds, distinguishes a coffee pot from a tea pot? The shape.

Coffee pots are nearly always tall with a spout located at the top. Maybe this is because of the need to keep any stray grounds as far away from the liquid as possible.

The original design probably came with the beans from the Arab and African world into Europe. An Arab pot, which is invariably made of brass or other metal has a heavy bottom (for sitting down on sand) and a weighted, hinged lid.

The exception to this is the silver maker's designs which placed a long, S-curved spout on the the coffee component of a silver set. Coffee and tea being served in this manner is always brewed elsewhere and put into the pot. So there's no actual brewing going on here. There were some electric percolators that had a similar design as the silver serving set pot, but that was because we were so in love with everything electric. The design soon died when better coffee could be made in makers like the ones we use today.

Silver chocolate pots often followed the shape of coffee pots, but has the spout or handle, whichever way you want to look at it, offset chocolate offset to one side, signifying it is a chocolate pot. This would seem to be a most awkward way to serve.

During the Victorian era, Limoges and other French and European china makers, as well as Japanese makers, produced chocolate sets that were elongated with the pouring spout located at the top. Most confusing.

I would imagine cleaning congealed chocolate out of an S-shaped spout could be a bit of a drag.

The pots seemed to take on the shape of the fashionable ladies silhouette--that of the 'Gibson Girl' who lost her bustle, gained a slim waist and wore elongated, non-hooped dresses.

Leonardo

Leonardo da Vinci must have been a lot of laughs.

I read once that he loved to rig up mice and small animals in costumes or tiny kinetic harnesses. Can you imagine a mouse with working wings?




Now just how cute could that be?



Did you know he made automatons and a robot? A Google search will turn up lots of U-tubes of antique models and a museum of Leonardo's models .


















He made a life-sized lion that walked into the room, sat on it's hind legs, reared up and his chest opened up to reveal lilies. It delighted the King of France, but it also probably cleared the room.

And speaking of rooms, he figured out a way to make a whole room explode in a ball of fire (without destroying anything--I'm assuming it was minus the furniture at the time).

He atomized a propellant into the sealed room and rigged up a sparking device--probably attached to the door.

Good thing most of the building were stone.


I'd be impressed.

Below: His drawing of an explosion.

Sauce bottles

The Inspiration:

A water or wine bottle, designed to be either carried or strapped to a saddle, a waist or shoulder strap.

These vessels can be found in museums. Variations can be found in displays from the Orient to the New World.

This beauty came up on eBay a few years ago.


I saw this one at the Corcoran Museum in Washington D.C. some years ago.

It is engraved rock crystal with gold or vermiel fittings and was part of a special show from the collections of the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul.

(Photo taken from a post card.)




A modification of the form can be used to serve sauce, syrup or sake.

















It's intriguing how different the same form looks when the surface treatment is changed.












































All the above were made by handbuilding.

I cut out a rather free-form bottom first, roll out a long slab of clay, then mold it around the base until I get a free-form shape. I attach the bottom to the walls--this is easy since the top of the form is very open at this point.

If I were to texture the outer walls, I would impress them first and then handle very carefully to keep the design crisp. So far, I haven't added a surface treatment after the form is 'set' except for glaze variations.

I coax out the spout walls and either let the whole thing stand on it's own or put a cylindrical form inside to keep the shape. While that is stiffening up a bit, I hand shape the spouts. Then, I rest them into U-shaped cuts at the sides and attach them, adusting the angles as I go and trimming off excess clay. I smooth all the inside areas for a good flow of liquid, then begin to shape the closure at the top.

The form lends itself well to variations and manipulation of the shape.

I'm sure I'll continue to explore this idea more--the addition of a removable lid could be added as well as modifying it to make a divided vessel for oil and vinegar; creating handle designs; etc.--lots of possibilities.






"Black Nose"

Mizusashi

Mizusashi referes to a large water jars used during the Japanese tea ceremony. (Mizu means 'water') Usually, but not always, they have black lacquer lids with a small loop on the top.
They can be just about any shape; as finished or as primitive as the imagination can dream up. The only requirement is containment of a certain amount of hot water and an opening large enough to accomodate a special bamboo dipper. They are usually quite heavy, although there really are no rules when it comes to mizusashis. (Shown here with the iron water container, heater underneath and the bamboo dipper in the background.)

When I visited Japan a couple of years ago, I was intrigued by the huge variety of interpretations of this jar form. We visited one museum devoted exclusively to mizusashis. And, since they are an integral part of the aesthetic of tea ceremony, they can be extremely expensive and a prized possession.

I came back to my studio and made several. It is a beautiful form for creating various storage jars and in the classic shape, makes a very pleasing object to have in your house.
I happened to have some corrupted black glaze that had morphed into a wonderful chocolate brown. It worked perfectly as a substitute for the lacquer lid. This example is quite large. My teabags live in there.