Not So New

Right now, in response to stress, some of my friends are saying they want to stay home under the covers. But personally I'd like to escape to a darkened art history seminar room and indulge in a few fascinating courses. I'm envious of current Agnes Scott students because there are some intriguing ones now offered by the art department: Women As Artists and Patrons from the 12th to the 17th Centuries, and Face Off: The Art of Self-Portraiture, just to name two.

What I can do is post more arts-related content. The ikat-patterned plates shown here instantly caught my eye as I flipped through Selvedge, issue 14. To be honest, I assumed patterned plates like this were a relatively new thing.

Actually, according to Victoria Rivers, many fabric-like patterned plates were produced in Russia between 1892 to 1917, with the oldest ikat plates coming from the Gardner porcelain factory. The older plates were decorated in faience style, meaning that an opaque white slip was used beneath colorful over-glazes. Later plates were sprayed with color. Hues favored include the same deep reds, pinks, blues, greens and violets seen in Bukhara-produced Central Asian textiles.

Common motifs encompass double rams' horns, concentric or rhomboidal-shaped eye spots, and varied parallel stripes. (To learn more, order a copy of issue 14 from Selvedge.) Since ikat became such a big trend during the past two years, and new products have been covered thoroughly in magazines, I'm not repeating those items today, but I did find a circa 1920 Russian/Soviet plate for sale here. If you are searching for similar contemporary tableware, try the Oscar de la Renta for Lunt line.


I thought this chair, currently for sale at Ceylon et Cie, might inspire a DIY project. Perhaps some black paint on a flea market chair and a new seat cover made using a found remnant. Click here for one of several related past posts with some fun flashbacks from the last ten years or so.

Oh and FYI, on the subject of textiles and education, Antique Collectors Club is currently offering 20 percent off all titles such as Liberty and Co. in the Fifties and Sixties, a book Style Beat wrote about a few days ago.