A busy outing to London
This morning I decided to go and visit the V&A - the first museum in the world to have a public restaurant! I have a membership there, and so I decided to wander around some of the areas I've not explored in depth. I ended up walking around four miles around the place - I love it so much there. This is part of the 'cast' court - an opportunity to see plaster casts of famous items that are still in their native countries.
Under the cut for more from the ceramics and furniture sections.
Clarice Cliff pottery from the 1930s. I love the shapes of these.
This 1876 ceramic panel (which is huge) is a hand-painted example in keeping with the Arts and Crafts movement in England. The floral-designed tiles are very similar to a design produced by William Morris and Co. and were probably in a bathroom of a house designed by George Devey (an architect who designed a lot of places for the Rothschild family) - sadly demolished in 1928, but they saved the tiles!
The very famous copy of the Portland Vase by Josiah Wedgewood. The original Roman vase was made of cameo glass and in 1760 Wedgewood wanted to make a copy using jasper wear ceramic. A very ambitious thing to do in the era of firing clay in kilns without any temperature regulation other than the skill of the workers.
It really is quite stunning.
The Martin Brothers made highly individual styles of pottery in their pottery (founded in 1873). I love the wacky birds on the one at the front (1902)
Margaret E Thompson won medals for her work illustrating children's books and painting vases. I love these whimsical fantasy fairies and mermaids (1900). I have a book of Grimms Fairytales with her illustrations in it. They are rather lovely.
William De Morgan is another of the Arts and Crafts potters who worked closely with William Morris but is very famous for his beautiful ceramics and tiles as well as his designs in stained glass. I like the colours he chose in his designs, although the painting on the vases and tiles would have been done by Charles and Fred Passenger (who were brothers). The dish has an eagle and sea creatures painted on it (1888).
Another of his designs - stylised flowers.
You can see the Pre-Raphaelite influence in these ceramic tiles - unfortunately, the maker is unknown but they were made around 1880.
I'm always astonished that something like clay can make a delicate and lively figure such as this Dancer from the Sèvres porcelain factory. So very Art Nouveau! Designed in 1898, this was produced in 1904. It is from a set of table decorations intended to accompany dessert :)
Something far older - as it says on the label - this is Ming dynasty porcelain...
More Clarice Cliff designs.
I took a photo of this because my Mother had the brown coffee set (the Heirloom range from Hornsea Pottery 1965) - I wish we'd kept it! The blue coffee pot and the black and white coffee set are by the Portmeirion Potteries. The designs are 'Totem' and 'Magic City'.
This is a wonderful trompe l'oeil painted Dutch wooden cabinet from 1678.
Frank Lloyd Wright-designed furniture. I don't think the dining chair looks particularly comfortable with such a high back (1902), but I rather like the Office Chair (1904 next to it) and the Desk Chair (1937 hung on the wall).
I'm so pleased that I got to see this folding lacquer screen by Eileen Gray the Irish woman who learned how to create lacquered furniture in Paris from the Japanese master Seizo Sugawara. I learned about her in the Art Deco online course I did at the beginning of this year.
And finally, this lovely Welsh turned-wood chair which is probably 400 years old. Just gorgeous.
I had a very delicious lunch in the wonderful restaurant - so beautiful! There are more photos of the other restaurants in the V&A and the history of them here.
Youngest Cee has gone to London to work today and is going to spend the rest of the week staying with GF(P) at her Mum's place. Mr Cee is going Nordic Walking later but I'm going to relax after all that walking!
Just time for today's question: 7 - Global Running Day: Are you, or have you ever been, a runner/jogger? If yes, do you/did you run mostly indoors (treadmill) or outdoors, or both, depending on the weather? What are the biggest differences between running outdoors vs indoors? If you're not a runner, what is your preferred form of exercise (if you have one)?
I'm not a fan of running - I find it a bit boring tbh. I'd rather go to a Pilates class, or Nordic walking or Tai Chi, or just go around a museum for a wander *g*
Under the cut for more from the ceramics and furniture sections.
Clarice Cliff pottery from the 1930s. I love the shapes of these.
This 1876 ceramic panel (which is huge) is a hand-painted example in keeping with the Arts and Crafts movement in England. The floral-designed tiles are very similar to a design produced by William Morris and Co. and were probably in a bathroom of a house designed by George Devey (an architect who designed a lot of places for the Rothschild family) - sadly demolished in 1928, but they saved the tiles!
The very famous copy of the Portland Vase by Josiah Wedgewood. The original Roman vase was made of cameo glass and in 1760 Wedgewood wanted to make a copy using jasper wear ceramic. A very ambitious thing to do in the era of firing clay in kilns without any temperature regulation other than the skill of the workers.
It really is quite stunning.
The Martin Brothers made highly individual styles of pottery in their pottery (founded in 1873). I love the wacky birds on the one at the front (1902)
Margaret E Thompson won medals for her work illustrating children's books and painting vases. I love these whimsical fantasy fairies and mermaids (1900). I have a book of Grimms Fairytales with her illustrations in it. They are rather lovely.
William De Morgan is another of the Arts and Crafts potters who worked closely with William Morris but is very famous for his beautiful ceramics and tiles as well as his designs in stained glass. I like the colours he chose in his designs, although the painting on the vases and tiles would have been done by Charles and Fred Passenger (who were brothers). The dish has an eagle and sea creatures painted on it (1888).
Another of his designs - stylised flowers.
You can see the Pre-Raphaelite influence in these ceramic tiles - unfortunately, the maker is unknown but they were made around 1880.
I'm always astonished that something like clay can make a delicate and lively figure such as this Dancer from the Sèvres porcelain factory. So very Art Nouveau! Designed in 1898, this was produced in 1904. It is from a set of table decorations intended to accompany dessert :)
Something far older - as it says on the label - this is Ming dynasty porcelain...
More Clarice Cliff designs.
I took a photo of this because my Mother had the brown coffee set (the Heirloom range from Hornsea Pottery 1965) - I wish we'd kept it! The blue coffee pot and the black and white coffee set are by the Portmeirion Potteries. The designs are 'Totem' and 'Magic City'.
This is a wonderful trompe l'oeil painted Dutch wooden cabinet from 1678.
Frank Lloyd Wright-designed furniture. I don't think the dining chair looks particularly comfortable with such a high back (1902), but I rather like the Office Chair (1904 next to it) and the Desk Chair (1937 hung on the wall).
I'm so pleased that I got to see this folding lacquer screen by Eileen Gray the Irish woman who learned how to create lacquered furniture in Paris from the Japanese master Seizo Sugawara. I learned about her in the Art Deco online course I did at the beginning of this year.
And finally, this lovely Welsh turned-wood chair which is probably 400 years old. Just gorgeous.
I had a very delicious lunch in the wonderful restaurant - so beautiful! There are more photos of the other restaurants in the V&A and the history of them here.
Youngest Cee has gone to London to work today and is going to spend the rest of the week staying with GF(P) at her Mum's place. Mr Cee is going Nordic Walking later but I'm going to relax after all that walking!
Just time for today's question: 7 - Global Running Day: Are you, or have you ever been, a runner/jogger? If yes, do you/did you run mostly indoors (treadmill) or outdoors, or both, depending on the weather? What are the biggest differences between running outdoors vs indoors? If you're not a runner, what is your preferred form of exercise (if you have one)?
I'm not a fan of running - I find it a bit boring tbh. I'd rather go to a Pilates class, or Nordic walking or Tai Chi, or just go around a museum for a wander *g*