Posts Tagged ‘collection’
Tomato Ware
One of my favorite collections is my odd set of bright orange-red Tomato Ware dishes.
They are usually marked ‘Made in Occupied Japan’ or ‘Made in Japan’ and were made in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Two of my pieces are marked Maruhon Ware (with a K surrounded by a circle). Maruhon Ware was made from the 1920s to 1950s. ‘Made in Occupied Japan’ means the piece was made from 1945 to 1952.
The pieces in my collection are shaped like tomatoes (I have one set of salt and peppers shaped like long peppers). They are glazed pottery, coloured in an over-bright green and an orangy red. Most have green leaves as decorations, clasping the base of handles or teapot spouts. My collection is in good shape, the only flaws being a large chip out of the spout of one teapot and a broken handle on one creamer.
three Tomato Ware teapots (the green apples and the larger salt and pepper shakers, 2nd and 3rd from right, are modern pieces)
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I have:
2 jam pots
2 cups/tumblers
3 teapots (one marked with the K surrounded by a circle)
3 pair cream and sugars
1 pair cream and sugar with a tray, and one lone creamer
1 set of salt and peppers
1 set of salt and papers with a tray
1 set of salt and peppers on a tray with a basket handle (belonged to my mother)
1 lone salt shaker
1 set of pepper-shaped salt and peppers
2 tea cups and saucers (both marked Maruhon Ware)
The dishes are very bright and provide an accent color for my very green living room.
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Do you have any pieces of Tomato Ware?
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
collecting glass animals
Today, I cleaned my collection of glass animals. Cleaning them takes a long time since I don’t clean them often. I wash each piece in soapy water and air dry it on a towel. As I work, I enjoy their sparkle and I think about how I got each piece. Since most of them are second-hand, I think about the unknown people who owned them before me.
Most of the animals in my collection belong in one of three categories: covered dishes, candle holders and dresser jars. A couple of the pieces belonged to my Mom. A couple of them are pieces she gave me as gifts. The rest, I found over the years at antique stores or auctions.
The covered dishes are mostly hens or chickens…
My favorite hen dish is a funny round chicken in clear glass…
I also have a rabbit in this collection…
and a duck…
I have a few glass birds of various colors. Each bird has a berry in its beak, and a hollow in its back to hold a candle…
I’ll show you some of my dresser jars in the next post.
Do you have a hen dish among your dishes?
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Parting the Collection
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1.
to collect: to gather together
these prisms
of glass and light
took a lifetime
what will become of them
when what becomes of me?
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2.
collect: a short prayer
from a mouth like dust
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I bid for each
between Limoges and Occupied Japan
with a steady hand
and a palpitating heart
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3.
sapphire
feathers pressed into glass
bird in the house
at the window
~
cut crystal
edge of flight
from the menagerie
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ruby swan
amethyst bee
topaz duck
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glazed eyes
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4.
lenses rise in your throat
siliceous gasses
burst from your beak
as a berry
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past and future
transparent
~
shards of glass
shared among
my daughters
do not understand
the meaning
of collection
~
do not know
a Sybil
rises in your beak
~
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Published as ‘Parting the Collection’, The Antigonish Review 95, Autumn 1993
Revised
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Copyright Jane Tims 2013
a moment of beautiful – new friends
the space- a shelf in an antique store
the beautiful- creating a collection of two
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I took a break from writing this week, to take a drive to the Woodstock area, for lunch with my husband and to check out any antique stores we saw. We visited one store and I saw what I wanted the minute I walked in.
It was a little china salt and pepper shaker, a little Dutch boy, I think, from the bit of research I did on eBay.
He looked familiar, so I paid a dollar (a dollar!) and he came home with me. At home, I was so happy to find that he ‘matches’ another little Dutch figurine I have had for a long time. My figurine is not a salt and pepper shaker, but he is the same size and gloss. My son would say they belong to the same ‘universe’.
It is so much fun to meet new friends.
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© Jane Tims 2012
holding on to our space
We are in a competition for space. A population of geckos has moved into our house. They are everywhere:
on the wall…
under the cupboard in the kitchen…
on the post in our stairway…
climbing down our picture frames…
on the books in my study…
- this little fellow came all the way from Barcelona in Spain
holding on
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flex knee
reach
determined to stick
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one foot on wall
will the molecular bond
to adhere
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reluctant release
of rear foot
now dedicated to
surface past
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flex knee
reach
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© Jane Tims 2011
the glassed-in porch
My grandfather lived in a big white farmhouse. It had rooms and rooms, but the focus of life was the kitchen. On rainy days, we could play there quietly.
Sometimes we were allowed to spend the afternoon in the glassed-in porch just off the kitchen. It was whitewashed, and had filmy white curtains and wide window ledges.
On those ledges was a fastinating collection of knick-knacks and trinkets. Examining these items was very entertaining although we were not really allowed to touch anything.
I have tried to emulate this magical jumble of artifacts in my own home, but some spaces are impossible to duplicate.
a collection on a window ledge
glassed-in porch in rain
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rainy day glassed-in porch
tall windows and white step
down from the kitchen
to linoleum wicker table a cot
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never-used porch door
at the windows, white ledges
keepsakes and trinkets
‘look but don’t touch’
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big clock in the kitchen ticks
red-eared slider frantic against
the frosted sides of his bowl
rain taps at the window
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irresistible urge to give the turtle
respite, lift the curtain to admire
the rain, lift the velvet lid
of the purple box, Port Maitland
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iron pyrite safe inside, encourage
dippy bird to tip and drink
from the glass of water, blue tulips
and a chip in its rim
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nudge the red and yellow-flocked
parrot above the cot, swing him
on his metal perch, rearrange ceramic chicks
to peck at whitewashed window ledge
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focus rose bowl ruby light
on china pig, puzzle out flowers
and holes on his back, turn the bud vase over
‘where is Occupied Japan?’
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pour buttons from the jar, sort
and match Meteghan sea glass, marbles
in a coffee can, take a ship with scallop shells
for sails along the sill
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trace paths of hesitant rain
droplets on glass
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© Jane Tims 2011
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