My Aunt Holly has been generous in the past with my tablesetting fetish but this time she really surprised me by offering my grandmother's fancy special occasion dishes. She said that Mimi (my grandmother) got them before the war but she didn't know any more than that. Mimi always had an interest in china and a polished aesthetic sense, but not much money, so I was really curious to see what she might have chosen, although there is no information about how they actually came into her possession. When I unwrapped the carefully packaged pieces I was charmed by what I found.
The pattern is highly decorated with what I think are transfer patterns of flowers amid hand painted flourishes. There is a wide border of very pale cream around the rim, leaving only a small circle in the middle of the plate in white. The little chrysanthemums amid the other flowers are highly graphic and made me think immediately of Chinese or Japanese art. Their strong shapes and colors make the floral groups light and distinctive, and contribute to the overall freshness of the pattern. They are both warm and delicate. The shapes of the pieces are also charming. The dinner plates are round as usual, but the salad plates (I eventually learned that they are luncheon plates) are square and the soup bowls have adorable little handles. There is also a lidded sugar bowl and creamer, and a double ended gravy boat. The gold rims on the plates are a little worn, but otherwise they are in good condition and the quality of the translucent porcelain is high, especially by today's standards. Everything speaks strongly of another time, and older ways of thinking about entertaining and table setting, but still has a clarity that appeals to my modern eyes.
There are only four settings, plus the three extra pieces and I wondered whether I could find more somewhere. Not feeling very hopeful I consulted Google and found that Kongo China was a popular, inexpensive line produced in Japan before WWII for the American market. There were many patterns (mine is Kon117) and they are still washing around the antique trade, although there was only one offering I found of another pattern that included dinner plates. It seems like bread and butter plates and gravy boats survived the best. Nevertheless, I will keep my eye out for additions because I like them very much and because it is satisfying to use these things that belonged to my grandmother. I have been the lucky recipient of a number of dishes and silverware from Mike's family...these things come from mine and that feels good.
I had the chance to use them immediately because my brother Tim and his friend Suzanne came to visit. In the heyday of these dishes only white or off-white linens would have been available so the dishes themselves had to carry the decorative load. Not wanting to overshadow their traditional prettiness I too kept the tablecloth and napkins plain, just adding a vintage lace and linen runner for texture.
For a centerpiece I kept thinking of my old book from the forties about tablesetting that showed a professional arrangement in a footed vase, but that seemed just too staid. Instead I cut some branches of flowering quince whose color echoed one of the tiny flowers on the dishes and whose spare linearity makes me think of Japanese woodcut prints. Because there were just four of us I put the flowers at the ends of the table with a tiny vase in the middle with candles. It was a reasonable showcase for the plates, but I am hoping to come up with something more interesting in the future. Every time I use them I know I will think of Mimi and Aunt Holly with love and gratitude.