Saturday, January 21, 2012

Collecting Rose Medallion


Rose Medallion Pottery was a product made exclusively for export by China and chiefly exported to the United States and England from 1850 until the early 20th Century. It is distinguished by its delicate pink under-glaze over ivory colored porcelain. The motif is always four painted panels depicting alternate scenes of birds and animals and scenes of people in a home setting arranged like petals around a central medallion showing a bird and a tree peony. There are other similar styles of porcelain that depict the same designs which are called Famille Rose, Roses Canton, and Rose Mandarin but only the Rose medallion will depict the people in alternating panels. Rose Medallion had a consistent color scheme as well. Enameled pink in various tones, mostly pastel, combined with green, red, blue, yellow and gold. Due to age, any gilding will display more of a golden-brown to bronze tone rather than a shiny, perfected gold.

As a collector one should appreciate the hand painting applied under the glaze with the gold embellishment applied over the glaze. The older pieces will show an artists pride in small details and consistent color use. Also notice the marks, painted and impressed. The impressed mark is the pottery mark which indicates that the master of the pottery approved of the form and then the painted marks indicate the glazier and the painter. These marks will indicate the the piece was made prior to 1891. This is because the McKinley tariff of 1890 required that all exports be marked with their country of origin. Therefor, any Rose medallion made after 1891 will be marked "Made In china", "China" (in red or in a rectangle). Some collectors seek only the pieces from before this time because they have become quite rare.

Rose medallion can be found in cups (with or without handles), saucers, plates, bowls, vases and table service pieces. Rose Medallion was made in every form of table service ware and decorative art. Rarer forms will be jewelry trays, candle sticks, and any form other than round. Quite fine collections can be found at "The Helena and William Schulte Gallery of Chinese Art" in Daytona Beach, The White House in Washington D.C., and our small but impressive collection here at Charlotte Elliott.

Friday, January 20, 2012


Coming Soon to Charlotte Elliott:

A Dream of Chocolate is a Maryland based chocolaty marvelous company that will be stocking its gourmet truffle confections in our shop just in time for Valentine's Day!
Mark Coulbourne is a professionally trained chef turned entrepreneur.
After more than a decade in the field he has struck out on his own to present to your taste buds fabulous, small batch, hand dipped chocolaty fabulousness in ingenious flavors like:
Banana Peanut Butter in White Chocolate Truffle,
Chai Tiger in mil Chocolate with White Chocolate accent,
and Bourbon Pecan in Dark Chocolate.
We are pleased to present his delightful truffle flavors to you exclusively in Baltimore City at our shop as part of our on-going mission to support small local Maryland Businesses and bring you all that is wonderful and beautiful in the world.

COMING SOON! A Dream of Chocolate exclusively at Charlotte Elliott and the Bookstore Next Door!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Introduction to Imari


We have a special appreciation for Japanese Imari porcelain. My Great-great Grandfather, named Albert Belding traveled to Japan in 1905 as a teacher. While he and his wife, Irene, were there he developed the Kobe School of Business, which is still in operation. Irene was the one to start our family in the legacy of collecting Imari when she returned home with Albert fifteen years later, with several crates of the exquisite pottery. While those pieces have stayed in the family collections, as art dealers we can't help but buy up great pieces of Imari as we find it and display it for sale at the shop.
A brief history of pottery and Imari in japan will help you to understand the elegance of these fine dishes. In the mid to late 16th century Lord Hieyoshi, during a war called "The Tea Cup War", invaded China and captured many potters and craftsmen to start the now famous potteries in Japan. Then in the early 17th century Lord Nabeshima used those craftsmen and hired Korean Potters to start the manufacture of porcelain in Japan for the first time.
The most famous kilns were in the region of Arita and many of these original kilns are still in operation today. Imari pottery was the lovely white porcelain with blue and white decoration that was selected for trade in the port of Imari, just North of the region of Arita (note: Arita ware is a name given to another type of pottery from the Arita region which I will discuss in a later post).
While the Imari Porcelain at this time was hues of blue under glaze, in 1644 Dutch traders from the Dutch East Indian trading Company were in search of something new to trade since their sauce trade had diminished. These traders requested that the potters of Arita to decorate their lovely plates and bowl with a pattern they appreciated from the heavily brocaded fabrics the traders saw the japanese Women wearing in their Kimonos. This encouraged the potters of Arita to develope new color glazes and patterns in Deep Blue, Green, and Red/Terra Cotta. The result was a fine painted pottery that became loved by Kings and Queen all over Europe and highly demanded and traded so much so that today there is said to be more Imari in Europe and the West than in Japan.
Shachikuai is a most common design motif of bamboo and plum. Botan (botanicals), Ayo (fish) and Kame (cranes) are other traditional motifs on Imari. I have also seen rabbits, octopus and shrimp used in other whimsical pieces of 18th-20th century Imari dishes.
Sometsuke is the name of the oler decoration method which is hand painted in under glaze blue. Iroe or Akake is the name of the style in which blue, green and red are hand painted in under glaze on white porcelain. Nishiki-de is the style in which gold is painted on Iroe style pottery.
The variety, the color, the many shapes and patterns are elegant and whimsical and always remind me of ingenuity and passion. All of this makes Imari and great collectible. (Imari is food safe but not microwave or dishwasher safe)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

First Friday January

Here in Hampden on the first Friday of each month shops stay open late, offer specials and some have parties or music, live entertainment. You can see many listings of what is going on here: http://hampdenmerchants.com/
Here at Charlotte Elliott and the Book Store Next Door we will be open 11am to 8pm and are happy to have you come by.