Go on a Classic Ornamentation Adventure
It was a warm and sunlit room with a collection of beautiful ginger jars varying shapes and colors that glowed like ancient jems. Imagine wealth generated from historical exemplars thousands of years ago. Objects like these talk. They say builds stories for emperors and craftsmen which are then brought down through what is on ornamentation. Far more than decorations, ginger jars are miniature museums of art and culture. These were the secret knotwork; these unfamiliar motifs are patterns corresponding preciously with love letters on paper from one thousand years ago.
The patterns on ginger jars are an adventure of beauty as if this ancient world could be seen from any angle. One could says it is like cracking a cryptograph right before your very eyes. Historical motifs are statements on philosophy or life–fundaments that took root in various periods of historical development. So dragons. Besides being plain old yelling about strength and power, Outside Alert readers know that they are signals of hope and good fortune-imperial might joined with spiritual symbols.
The endlessly fascinating circles of flower motifs, where peonies in whispers of wealth and honor; breathy orphic longings for beauty and grace, this is a flower. Each flower captures an essence, or emotion; silent communication between two minds who do not speak but understand. It is not just a feast for the eyes. It is entry into silent dialogues with revised history. Ever seen a phoenix living its life in perpetuity? His bonds tell the tale of rebirth, turning common scenes into messages about hope with new leaves. Add a phoenix or two on your guest book: who knows but your flowers may grow wings.
Turning abruptly to a bird on the wing Why should fish be incorporated into elegant designs? People might wonder what profound meanings lie behind the fish motif. Rather than only swimming slowly and dissolving all the way, fishes bear wealth of life prosperity in their shells. In the painting, the fish herald good things in vivid colors and bring prosperity to all who behold.
Picture your grandma’s tales turned into brushtrokes – those old-school glimpses of China, moonlit nights, stars on the river boats shining golden, families gathered around meals together. Breaking into a smile: why not tell these stories back just like chatting? Tales recorded in outline and color tell us about the small and everyday scenic beauty of history, when people lived out each day yet things never changed–flowing forward with graceful ease. What a twist in the themes!
Then what of those spiral patterns and arcs like sound waves glazed in the moment shot? These are not just waves or stripes. They constitute a dance long ago frozen into stone. You may look at them and go ‘Mysteries fill life – like those meandering S-shapes.
When you take up symbols which are already substantive concepts, the characters for happiness stand out prominently. In Chinese symbolism, the shou character for longevity is more than a word. It is a message of life offering a warm hand, elongating today so that tomorrows continue long and good to hope.
The Fascinating Stories of Blue-and-White Designs
Oh, there is something about the magical mingling of blue and white! It’s safe to say that these eternal tints have something of a magnetic attraction when put together. The presence of ginger jars or chintzy curtains, sprinkle a touch of elegance, nostalgia and travel in our surroundings. You walk into a room, there on the wall hangs an antique porcelain plate, quietly recounting to you the events of past eras. My dear reader, these designs are not just patterns but delightful openings into charming worlds.
Consider for example the nationwide blue-and-white porcelain exports of China or as you might describe them the superstars of ceramics? It’s a mixed image. Like school’s cool kids, their existence is eye-catching yet mysterious “Who is he? How did she get that look?” All began in the Tang Dynasty. What strikes the white porcelain was that the contact with cobalt blue. This was one of those almost cosmic completions Six times out of ten the designs would center on scenes of great intricacy, onto which little men or birds were added. This was an aesthetic technique unlike anything else in the primitive milieu. To own such a piece was not to hold the wealth of poetry wrought by miracle man Musicians Chambers, man of acclaim; rather, it was a piece of history in the highest sense.
Jump over from 16th-century China to 16th-century Europe and we find Delftware splashing onto the art scene. Those inventive Dutch artists stumbled upon Eastern designs and hark! Decided to emulate them with sly, sly bits of adding their very own twists. Delft, laced with sweet clogs and the confections of canals, was synonymous with this art form. Their designs were peppered with windmills, tulips, and fanciful scenes from daily life. The Dutch would turn these pieces into little paintings, little glimpses of a country idyllic and pastoral in a blue-on-white saga.
And speaking of learning from the mistakes of others, onward to Japan! The land of the rising sun received a blue-and-white surprise from its emulating of Chinese Ming porcelains. Enter Arita ware, spilling out of the kilns at Arita township, to shake the whole course of ceramic art. Whispering motifs to the West’s growing obsession with orientals, these ceramics were praised for their lightness as if made from calcium, and for their splendid scenes of nature and legend. Imagine a tranquil mountaintop or a dance of cherry blossoms, all captured in a porcelain hand.
But wait – in this symphony of patterns it is not just porcelain that has music! Take a walk through the Museum of Fabric History. Watch Shibori, in Japan dyeing methods that dance between bold indigo and snow white. Each piece of fabric is as it were a pulse, the result of twists, ties, and dyings. It was almost as if the fabric had the smell of sea salt about it waves of color beating against the shore of mystery. A genuine storyteller, wrapping the person who wears it in sartorial anecdotes and restraints.
Let s switch our attention now slightly eastward to the Mediterranean sun and Greek islands, where blue and white are Motherland patriotic colours. Those arched houses decked out in these hues delineate skies of the Aegean where gods were once born in legend. And these vivid shades stand for openness, an open heart which greets yet one more wanderer promising tales steeped in sun and mythology.
