A rescued early-twentieth century spice rack has found new life as a hanging wall shelf corralling diminutive earthenware vessels à la Giorgio Morandi
(Please excuse my crooked photography. The hanging shelf is, in fact, mounted perfectly plumb)
Photo: Chronica Domus
There is a new addition to the stairwell, an area we consider a transitional space between the living quarters upstairs and the basement level leading to the garden. I'm thrilled to bits with it.
I've been on the hunt these past few years for a simple hanging wall shelf and I finally located one just the other day while walking Mavro around the neighborhood early on a bright and sunny morn. It was lurking on the basement floor of a house up the hill from ours, and was sold to me for a mere three dollars at the family's tag sale. I wish I had taken a snap shot of it in its dusty and dirty state. It was, quite frankly, a hideous mess. I'm sure the man who sold it to me thought me quite mad, of course. "Who in their right mind would want that?" I imagined was going through his mind as we exchanged shelf for dough. The wooden backing board had long ago been subjected to two crude holes, haphazardly off-set and not at all neatly centered as one might expect. Obviously, those required some attention. A bit of patching and sanding was in order. The remnant of thinly applied cream colored paint was still in evidence. I believe the shelf once hung in the original 1920's era kitchen of the house in which I found it, and may have been used to hold tins of spices and seasonings. Despite the wall shelf's degraded appearance, it was still very sturdy and obviously well-made in its day by a carpenter, probably by the same hands that built the other cabinetry in the kitchen. Ah, how one longs for the days before the dreaded flat-pack arrived on scene, killing the local carpenter.
With a gentle sanding and a lick or two of paint, I am now the proud owner of a practical and charming little hanging shelf that would very probably have met its death at the local dump had I not stepped in to rescue it. I think it looks perfectly lovely mounted on the wall of our stairwell, placed above the cache of traditional cleaning tools. Finally, a place for all my little earthenware vessels and flower scissors, making them easily accessible as I make my way back upstairs from the garden in readiness for arranging the little blooms I would have just gathered. Oh, and I mustn't forget to mention the sweet little mochaware piggy bank, long-ago smashed to pieces and lovingly re-glued having been enjoyed by an excited child surely saving for a treasure. It looks quite content sharing real estate alongside the other diminutive items on the shelf.
Photo: Chronica Domus
After spending a bit of time fussing with the placement of all the objects, I stepped back to admire my handiwork. I noticed the hanging shelf had taken on a Giorgio Morandiesque air in its composition. Would you not agree?
A still life by Giorgio Morandi
Life imitates art
Photo: Chronica Domus
Yet another still life by the artist
Source
Source
A corner of Mr. Morandi's studio showing his collection of vessels which inspired the artist's oeuvre
The next time you find an object that is destined for the landfill, do consider for a moment whether it may be something you could reimagine with a little elbow grease. You will not only be rewarded with a useful or decorative item for pennies on the dollar, but you will have also played your part as a green citizen of our planet.
Tell me, do you enjoy the benefits of open shelving in your house, or do you prefer to stash your items in cupboards behind closed doors?
I was delighted to see your collection of earthenware vessels (inkwells?) as I have a much smaller collection of the same, one of which I acquired this summer at a church bazaar for 25 cents! I have always loved their simple but honest form yet had never connected them to the art of Giorgio Morandi. I had seen his work before. Thank you for highlighting this connection.
ReplyDeleteHello slf,
DeleteOh, I think you made quite the score with your twenty-five cent bottle, well done! I've found mine quite inexpensively in as far a field as Virginia, California, and London. The man I purchased the brown bottles from, seen on the top left of the shelf, told me they contained "blacken", a type of lead polish that was used to clean old iron ranges. The two little ones on the bottom right are inkwells and I just adore their diminutive size.
So glad you enjoyed the artistic connection with Morandi. I can't imagine painting the same vessels repeatedly over years.
Thank you for the information. I did not know about about "blacken". Always nice to learn more about the antiques we collect. Two of mine are the brown ones, one of which is quite small. All of mine were acquired in Massachusetts.
DeleteYes, it is always intriguing to discover what these beautiful little pots once held. The creamy colored bottle on the second shelf down, right-hand side, has fragments of a dry black tarry substance inside of it. The pieces are larger than the neck so I have not been able to remove them. I'm wondering it that one held "blacken" too, that dried out over the years. I hear the pieces rattling about inside. Rather charming, I think.
DeleteI hope you are able to unearth more of these for your own collection. I still have plenty of space remaining on my shelf to continue my hunt.
This is so pleasing to the eye. What a collection, and grouped perfectly on your shelf.
ReplyDeleteA shelf like this is so sturdy and almost unusual looking now in our age of mdf shelves... I also prefer items grouped out in the open. The laundry area of my house has several shallow wooden shelves likely near 100 years old, they are a bit crooked and wonky looking but I kept them and painted them up. I have to see everything or I forget it's there so it's a perfect place to store supplies for laundry and cleaning.
Love the way you have your house organized CD.
Hello Dani,
DeleteSo nice of know you've enjoyed viewing my little shelf vignette. I do aspire to an orderly and organized house, and it is a constant battle I fight daily. I'm not a fan of clutter despite my collecting gene. When I come across items like my little hanging shelf, it gives me a little thrill knowing that the battle just got a little easier, and hopefully a little more beautiful.
I so agree with you regarding MDF. That stuff ends up in the landfill much faster than your beautiful century-old shelves. The very fact that you still enjoy them and use them frequently says it all really.
great find :-) I'm always looking for treasures! I have a mix of cabinets and open shelves (which I installed over my sink ) in my own kitchen.
ReplyDeleteThank you, AD, and well done on your recent installation (hanging anything correctly is not easy!). Must be so nice to have a place for your trasures within easy reach of the sink.
DeleteOooooh, I love transformations like this - and of all kinds. You have been busy! Morandi is wonderful -meditative but also a little austere so I do like the way you cheer up your handy still life with a snap of bright green. As you say, this is truly ecological (and the better quality of yesteryear); programmed obsolesce is my bugaboo.
ReplyDeleteHello gésbi,
DeleteYes, it was quite the transformation. I only wish you could have seen the spice rack before I got my hands on it - next time I'll remember to take pictures! Really, most other people would have just tossed it in the bin.
Morandi's work is certainly austere and to be quite frank, I'm not a fan of it, per se. What I do enjoy about it is his fascination with the placement of ordinary objects with interesting shapes and tonality. Odd, but somehow it works.
Yes, the before and after would be impressive, I'm sure. (We recently had a painting restored and were disappointed to have lost the before picture when my husband's phone stopped working.)
DeleteI agree with what you say about shape and tonality. I have a somewhat similar arrangement in the country with old pots and jugs bought in brocantes. It's just a display not practical though.
Hello gésbi,
DeleteI too have a painting that will likely benefit from a professional cleaning/restoration, but when it is time for that little matter to get taken care of, I shall remember you and make sure to take photos and keep them somewhere safe.
Perhaps you'll consider sharing a picture of your country pot and jug display on your own blog. I'd be more interested in seeing how you've arranged it all. I'm sure it is quite charming.
Hello CD, Congratulations on your beautifully refinished shelf. I especially love its jade-green color. As someone who obviously has great need of them, I love shelves of all types. Interesting how your shelves match their contents, reflecting a time when ordinary bottles and utility shelves could be sturdy, handsome, and even decorative.
ReplyDelete--Jim
Hello Jim, and thank you. I considered painting the shelf a mustard yellow to pick up on the color of the inside doormat at the bottom of the stairs but decided against it at the last minute. I settled upon the same color we used to paint the other woodwork of the stairwell. That was the original color we found from the 1920's, buried beneath almost a century's worth of paint.
DeleteCD,
ReplyDeleteI love your little shelf and the pottery that is sitting on it. I've only got one vintage Dundee Marmalade jar, but I am always on the lookout for others. I have one shelf, a bit larger than yours, that has been employed to hold smaller stuffed animals and a few small children's books over the day bed our granddaughter sleeps in when she comes for a visit. Before that it held a few staffordshire figures and a few diminutive books.
xo,
Karen
Hello Karen,
DeleteThe marmalade jar was a gift from a friend (she knows how much I love marmalade!), but somewhere, possibly in my basement, I have another, slightly older and smaller. I can't seem to find it of late, but will attempt to do so again over the next week as misplacing things in one's own house is really quite inexcusable.
What a lovely grandmother you are to keep a special shelf just for your granddaughter to enjoy. I can't blame her for wanting sleepovers at granny's house.
It's charming---combed and brushed and all spiffed with the perfect place to come home to. And your arrangement of all those little crockerish items is lovely---all homey and easy to hand. Pray, what is the white perforated dish on the left? I have no size reference, but it's a close twin to the little clerical collar insert for one of my McCormick Aladdin teapots, which were store premiums back in the 40s and 50s.
ReplyDeleteAnd I don't know this artist at all, but some of the bottles are for all the world like the little carved and incised presses for individual butter pats, back in my early childhood when my Mammaw kept a cow.
rachel
PS I have also polished a small parlor stove with the "blacken" way back when. I though of it as "blacking," though everybody's Southern accent pronounced it exactly your way.
Hello racheld,
DeleteThe "blacken" reference was related to me by the dealer I purchased two of the little bottles from in England, so yes, there very well may be a linguistic difference across the pond. It is nice, however, to learn that you know exactly what I meant having employed the stuff to spruce up your stove.
The perforated ceramic piece is a French vintage cheese press and stands a mere three inches high and four inches across. I think it would make a good container for small orchids as their roots require some aeration.
I adore the individual butter pats you reference. Somewhere around here, I believe I have one.
One man's trash is another woman's treasure? Well, only because you have the imagination to see a piece as you could usefully and prettily use it. And that you have certainly done. I had not heard of Morandi, so I am glad that you have rectified my lack of knowledge about him. My own still life by another Italian (born) is more realist:
ReplyDeletehttp://g33-c.blogspot.com/2010/06/cool-colors.html
Hello columnist,
DeleteThank you, and yes, I often think about the junk/treasure saying whenever I find a diamond in the rough that requires a bit of elbow grease - and imagination - to turn it into something worthwhile.
I took a look at your still life and it is beautiful and much more to my taste, to be frank, than Morandi's work. I enjoy Morandi's fascination with ordinary objects and their placement over his actual work, if that makes any sense at all.
I so love the green you chose to paint your shelf in CD. Also love the collection of little bottles which do look like a still life.
ReplyDeleteI tend to keep things behind closed doors - the rigour of keeping things dust free and in an artfully arranged state is beyond me… I have often thought of doing a series on the 'vignettes' around my house and the way in which my children have added (or subtracted from them) with Lego/ little drawings/ random discarded socks etc. My life is spent tidying!
Heidi,
DeleteYes, I know exactly what you mean. It is a constant battle over here to keep things orderly, and we are only three! I can't imagine what you must go through with your little army of children and everything that comes along with them.
I only have a few exposed shelves but enjoy arranging the objects upon them. There are plenty of glass-door kitchen cabinets, which miraculously stay in decent shape, but everything else is behind closed doors. I think it is the contents of those that are shut off to the world that end up in disarray. Perhaps the glass and open shelving arrangement forces us all to put things back in their place.
I'm pleased you liked the green paint. We were inspired to paint the back stairwell that particular shade of green after finding a similar color buried beneath almost a hundred years of paint which we believed it to be the original color.
Yet again I am convinced we are separated at birth, m'dear. I have a diminutive hanging shelf, a 1940s maple one in the Colonial taste, hanging in my flower-arranging room. And on it is a collection of diminutive earthenware crocks and vessels, much like yours. I looked for a suitable shelf for many years before finding the one we have, which is humble and suitable, and just-so, and in keeping with what it holds. Reggie
DeleteDearest Reggie,
DeleteHah, separated at birth indeed! You might be surprised to learn that the first hanging shelf I considered was a simple wooden Colonial Revival example. It was a little too large for the wall space and ultimately did not suit the rest of the millwork in the stairwell.
Isn't it marvelous to have a special place for our collections. Would love to have a room dedicated to the arrangement of flowers. Your room sounds heavenly.