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The Undeniable Charm of Pink Flowers
in defense of old china
It seldom fails: the unaccountable allure of a few tiny pink roses painted on fine china.
I have walked into many an antique store, vintage shop, resale shop — sometimes with entirely other plans and sometimes merely with an open mind. I have come out carefully hoisting a paper bag full of white china sprinkled with little pink roses. Or perhaps just a single teacup, English bone china with a large spray of pink flowers on the face of said cup, a little sprig on the inside, and one or two on the saucer.
To do the teacups justice, there are a good many of them with other flowers in other colors, in particular the most delightful purple violets. (I love violets.) But the purchase of each of the above are a complete mystery when I honestly believed I was searching for something undeniably modernist or something distinctly folk in style. Or any of my other temporary whims, so easily cast aside in favor of a few roses.
Our kitchen is currently stocked in a selection so well-matched that they might have been curated for the purpose. I assure you they were not. It happens.
On the soup bowls we have managed to find some information. It’s a Haviland pattern, produced from the nineteen-thirties through the fifties. Online they can be purchased for a…
