The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1897-04-19
OLD BLUE IN DECORATIONS.

lFrOm the Philadelphia Record
The term "old blue" as applied to
chinas is made to cover a multitude
of blues, all of which are effective in
any way they are used, be it for table
service or purely decorative purposes.
Since Whistler showed its possibilities
IN his famous blue and yellow break
fast room, the modern old blue, even
IN the cheapest makes of China and
Japan, has found a new valuation in
the eyes of apreaiative decorators.
Every variation of the shade is in itself
a color motif in harmony with which a
room may become a Veritable sym
phOny in blue.
The deft craze has come and gone
proving mere whim of fancy; but
willow ware" blue and ''pagoda' blue
are, like the poor, always with us; yet
they are by no means poor as art pro-
ducts, even though one can buy them
as cheap as white porcelain ware. 1t
was just this inexpensive Chinese blue
that Whistler used on table, mantel and
walls against his yellow backgrounds,
even hanging little pots of it filed with
ferns suspended by chains from the
ceiling above the four corners of the
table.
Take the dining room of the avera ge
suburban home, for instance, and what
a revelation of sweetness and light in
may become through these simple me-
diums of yellow walls and blue willow
ware!
1 know one such dining room in a
home where a noted novelist came to
visit, and she wrote to her frieds,
You may know 1 am happy; it is all
blue china and dOrmer windows here
This room had old fashioned ''ceiIed'
walls, grOOved boarding like wainscOt-
ing, that extended all the way up. This
was painted unmistakable yellow. In
one corner there was the triangular
cupboard originally built into the
house. Through the glass doors rows
of willow ware plates could be seen
and cups of the same hanging under
the shelves on brass hooks.
There was q window in the north side
facing the river, with a low. broad win
dow bench painted yellow and covered
with a blue denim cushion In the
south side there was only q door, but
flood of light and a view of woods and
fields. over this was a shelf called the
hospital" on which were ranged a
row of plates and the cracked teapOts
and pitchers that could turn a good
side toward the world.
In the center of the table stood q
sQuatty jaTdiniere of yellow Leeds
ware with growing ferns, and all the
trasting porcelain, on which quaint
blue gentlemen helped quainter blue
ladies over impossible rivers.
The authoress seemed to drink in
happy impressions with every sip of
coffee and declared her intention of
working in it,
Besides these blues mentioned there
is the mulberry blue" and the deeply,
darkly, beautifully blue Staffordshire
ware on which famous castles are de-
picted, and the Railroad" plates, made
at the same English pottery and show
ing the first train of cars
Some of these Railroad plates bring
a hundred and fifty dollars, while the
Castle plates are offered for ten,
seeming to prove that the pottery max
ers, at least, rated locOmOtiOn above
picturesqueness. These plates are large
and a single one shows handsomely as
a PLAGUE in an artistic hall.
An old blue bowl for cards on a pol
fshed mahogany or cherry hall table is
also a most eye-pIeasing combination
of cOlOrS,