In celebration of Women’s History Month, March Object of the Day posts highlight women designers in the collection. When describing wallpaper, Marthe Armitage, the designer of this paper, has said “Wallpaper… should be seen and not heard. It should provide a background in a home, and should not make you feel you have to look...
This verrière defines the classification of objects we call decorative arts: something that is both beautiful and functional. The function of the verrière is to cool wine glasses by inverting them and resting the feet and stems on the curved rim of the vessel, with the bowls immersed in cold water or ice. This type...
As the holidays draw near and decorations go up we begin to see the traditional hues of red and green, and their counterparts, silver and gold, appear around every corner. In accordance with this timing, it is appropriate to examine wallpapers that really exemplify this vein. Ceiling papers during the late nineteenth and early twentieth...
Full of life, movement, and color, this design for a wallpaper is a reproduction of Chinese wallpaper by one of the leading antique and wallpaper scholars of her day, Nancy McClelland. McClelland is known for her attention to detail and meticulous research that went into each of her reproductions. She was also a successful interior...
In the days before under-counter wine fridges, seaux à bouteilles, buckets made of earthenware or porcelain, were filled with ice water and used to keep bottles of wine cool. Their use continues to this day in the form of metal ice buckets used to keep white wine chilled table-side at fancy restaurants. When these objects were made,...
Now that Thanksgiving has arrived, the space of our kitchens is about to be center stage for friends, family, and most importantly, food. All of the most important trappings for Thanksgiving revolve around food and its accompaniments, such as dishware, which, are the center pieces of this kitchen sidewall from the mid 1930’s. Seemingly inlayed...
Wallpaper production was dominated by French manufactures in the 18th and 19th centuries, a time period which is often regarded as the “golden age” of wallpaper. The quality of design and material, as well as the quantity of paper created aptly distinguishes this period. Starting around the mid-18th century, French manufactures and designers were able...
Alpenmarchen tales (Alpine Flowers) is a 1922 illustrated storybook that describes the woodland adventures of two acorn children who are swept away by the autumn winds. Author Ernst Kreidolf (1863-1956) was a Swiss painter largely known for his watercolor illustrations for children’s books about flower fairies and small creatures in the mountains, forests in nature....
During the time period that this wallpaper was produced, the United States was experiencing some political unrest due to the ramifications of World War II. During the war years all artistic and design related activities slowed down substantially as manufacturers were unable to introduce new patterns as raw materials were reserved for the war effort....
