All the images in this collage are from dinner plates and were taken because I found the colours and the motifs to be beautiful. I didn’t know how I would use them when I took them but I’m pleased with the results of this collage.
At a certain stage of life, we are all collectors. In the old days, most newly-weds received gifts of dinnerware to “start” them off. I myself have some nice Royal Albert bone china and have added several pieces over the years. Like many other people I know, these items sit in a nice china cabinet and are used only on special occasions, if at all. “We often call our fine dinnerware “China”, and there is a very logical reason for this. Dinnerware is more often than not made out of porcelain, and porcelain was invented by the Chinese over 1000 years. Although the emperors of the Song Dynasty get most of the credit for this invention, it was more likely invented during the Tang Dynasty. Half way through the Song Dynasty, about 1100 AD, this fine art had spread throughout the East. By 1400 it had worked its way to Europe.” I read somewhere that bone china, as in the pieces I have, is made by combining clay and china stone and adding calcified bone. It is a type of porcelain.
There is something inherent in us as humans that makes us want to portray beauty and enjoy it in its various forms. Even our dinnerware comes in such a wide variety of patterns, colours, shapes, and sizes. I admired these plates and thought of the people who designed them. Did they study art or were they drawn to creating appealing objects? Did they think that food would taste better in a beautifully patterned plate or did they know that humans like to collect pieces that appeal to their senses?
Leo Tolstoy, in his book “What is Art” wrote that “All human life is filled with works of art of every kind—from cradlesong, jest, mimicry, the ornamentation of houses, dress, and utensils, up to church services, buildings, monuments, and triumphal processions. It is all artistic activity.”
We can use our nice dinnerware with beautiful patterns and have art with us as we wine and dine. As I get older, I find myself wanting to use all the nice items that I had stored in a cabinet before – so I can enjoy them while I’m still here. We don’t have to save the good china. Hope you enjoy this collage!