30 December 2012

TONY BLAIR'S FAVOURITE SHOP


That was back in 1993. I found this cutting while I was browsing back issues of Ceramic Review, the journal of the Craft Potters Association (CPA). Last year the CPA moved Contemporary Ceramics to a new and better location opposite the British Museum. It still shows the best work of CPA members, which it's fair to say is some of the best made in Britain. And Marta Donaghy is still running the shop.

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6 December 2012

AN IRANIAN TILE


I saw this tile at the Casa-Museu Frederico de Freitas in Funchal, on the island of Madeira earlier this year.  It is described as from 19th Iran and I know nothing more about it.  The museum has a large colletion of azulejos, decorated tiles, mostly tin-glazed.  The churches of Madeira, as in mainland Portugal, are richly decorated with them and, like Dutch tin-glazed tiles, they must have been made in their millions. The collection also shows some examples from outside Portugal and Spain, such as this charming Iranian dinner party, painted in copper green, cobalt blue, manganese grey and a fine black outline.

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