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Spooning

Jun15

I have just acquired four vintage Danish 830 silver spoons dating from the 1930s and 1940s for my Etsy shop. They all have maker’s marks, and I have identified three of the makers: Carl M Cohr, Christian Knudsen Hansen and W & S Sørensen, but the fourth, ‘H.V.J’, has so far eluded my attempts at identification.

Carl M Cohr 830 silver spoon, 1935.

Carl M Cohr 830 Danish silver spoon, 1935.

Chrstian Knudsen Hansen 830 silver spoon, 1939.

Christian Knudsen Hansen 830 Danish silver spoon, 1939.

W & S Sørensen 830 silver spoon, 1940s.

W & S Sørensen 830 Danish silver spoon, 1940s. (NOW SOLD).

'H.V.J' 830 silver spoon, 1940s.

‘H.V.J’ 830 Danish silver spoon, 1940s.

The last spoon in particular made me think of the old joke:

Two posh ladies (think Dowager Duchess) are talking, back in the 1920s.

Posh lady 1: ‘I saw a shocking thing today. A young couple were spooning, in public. The disgrace of it. One didn’t know where to look.’

Posh lady 2: (peers over top of lorgnette) ‘Standards are dropping, my dear. But one should at least be grateful they weren’t forking.’

(Note for younger readers, for whom ‘spooning’ means ‘cuddling up in bed, with your tummy against your partner’s back’: in the early part of the last century, ‘spooning’ meant a very different thing. Those were far more innocent and sexually repressed days. ‘Spooning’ meant the same as ‘canoodling’ – making gooey eyes at each other, holding hands, and perhaps – only perhaps – a kiss on the cheek. A young couple would never be able to spoon as we know it, unless they were married. So that makes the payoff line of the joke even more shocking and risqué for its time.)

UPDATE November 2015: Slightly belated, but I thought I’d add that I now have a lot more Danish silver spoons in my Etsy shop, and more to come! I’m a bit obsessed at the moment …

Favourite Etsy shops: The Litus Gallery

Jun12

There are some amazing artists and craftspeople on Etsy, and I wanted to write about some of my favourites. Top of the pile is The Litus Gallery.

I was so delighted when I found this shop: DD McInnes is an artist living near Canterbury in Kent, a self-professed fantabulist who paints the most whimsical, fantastical oil paintings, some of which are inspired by 17th, 18th and early 19th century paintings, and which have animals, including birds, invertebrates and insects taking the place of the human sitters. DD describes the paintings as ‘A unique collection of dream-like, darkly humorous paintings and prints of mythical beasts and metaphysical poets for the discerning Virtual Grand Tourist.’  

'The Tender Foils' by DD McInnes.

‘The Tender Foils’ by DD McInnes.

'Portrait of a Young Man', by DD McInnes.

‘Portrait of a Young Man’, by DD McInnes.

'The Spectral Lovers' by DD McInnes.

‘The Spectral Lovers’ by DD McInnes.

The paintings have such terrific titles as ‘The Contessa di Faraglione Arrives for the Evening Ball‘, and ‘The Morning Exercise, Newthorpe Park, May, 1768‘, and ‘La Passeggiata of the Lady Dowager, Siena, 1796‘, and ‘Mister Renard’s Dappled Gray, “Lightning Bolt”, with the Jockey Lamb, Up‘, and ‘Henry Lord Byfield, 1st Viscount of Framlington, Rides Out on His First Grand Tour, 1795‘, and ‘The Game of Quoits at Dunmow Lacey, Afternoon, 1814‘, and ‘A Table at Mrs. Goatsby’s Coffee-House, Berwick St. London, 1767‘. I’m not sure whether all of these are based on original paintings and their titles, or are the product of DD’s fevered imagination, but I have had fun trying to find out. (I could just ask DD, but where’s the challenge in that?)

A couple of them I recognise:

‘The Yuletide Handsel’ by DD McInnes

‘The Yuletide Handsel’ by DD McInnes

The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch, better known by its shorter title The Skating Minister, by Sir Henry Raeburn.

‘The Reverend Robert Walker Skating on Duddingston Loch’, better known by its shorter title ‘The Skating Minister’, by Sir Henry Raeburn, 1790s.

'The Swing' by DD McInnes.

‘The Swing’ by DD McInnes.

'The Swing' by Nicolas Lancret, 1730-35.

‘The Swing’ by Nicolas Lancret, 1730-35.

and DD mentions the inspiration in the title of a few more:

'The Eight Lives of Mr. Tybalt' (after Nicolaes Eliaszoon's 'Portrait of Nicolaes Tulp', 1633)" by DD McInnes.

‘The Eight Lives of Mr. Tybalt (after Nicolaes Eliaszoon’s “Portrait of Nicolaes Tulp”, 1633)’ by DD McInnes.

'Nicolaes Tulp' by Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy, 1633.

‘Nicolaes Tulp’ by Nicolaes Eliaszoon Pickenoy.

"On the Way Home (After William Blake's Engraving 'The Traveller hasteth in the Evening,' 1793)" by DD McInnes.

‘On the Way Home (After William Blake’s Engraving “The Traveller hasteth in the Evening,” 1793)’ by DD McInnes.

'The Traveller hasteth in the Evening 14 Publishd 17 May 1793 by WBlake Lambeth' Engraving from 'For Children. The Gates of Paradise', by William Blake, 1793.

‘The Traveller hasteth in the Evening 14 Publishd 17 May 1793 by WBlake Lambeth’
Engraving from ‘For Children. The Gates of Paradise’, by William Blake.

'The Turnip Spinner (After Chardin's, "Gabriel Godefroy watching a top spin", c.1735', by DD McInnes.

‘The Turnip Spinner (After Chardin’s, “Gabriel Godefroy watching a top spin”, c.1735’, by DD McInnes.

'Portrait of Auguste Gabriel Godefroy' by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin, 1741.

‘Portrait of Auguste Gabriel Godefroy’ by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin.

'I Want, I Want (after William Blake)' by DD McInnes.

‘I Want, I Want (after William Blake)’ by DD McInnes.

'I want! I want!' Plate 9, For the Sexes: The Gates of Paradise, by William Blake.

‘I want! I want!’, a plate in ‘For Children: The Gates of Paradise’, by William Blake.

And if you want yet more whimsy, read the shop’s ‘About’ page. I love it!

I don’t know DD’s gender, but I’m guessing DD’s a ‘he’ as the phrase ‘grizzled painter’ is used. Mind you, as DD says the oil paints used are delivered by packs of dromedaries across the marshes of Kent, maybe I should take absolutely everything with a pinch of salt …

DD sells the original oil paintings, plus fine art prints of some of the paintings and lovely notecards too, in the Litus Gallery shop on Etsy. It’s well worth a visit, and I guarantee you’ll come away smiling.

(Sadly necessary disclaimer: I’m writing about shops that grab my fancy and fire my imagination. I’m not being paid or otherwise rewarded to do this—just spreading the love!)

Pleased to meet you …

May29

Big animals in aquaria and small people looking at them  …

Genny, a 4,000 pound hippopotamus, at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey, US.

Genny, a 4,000 pound hippopotamus, at the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey, US.

A dugong and a little girl.

A dugong and a little girl.

More to come once I’ve google searched – there must be a treasury of them out there!

Tuna Turner

May26

And while we’re on the subject of Turners, bless The Grauniad and its typos, the cutting of one of which graces the pinboard in our kitchen:

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Miss Tuna Turner.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Miss Tuna Turner.

In the 70s The Guardian was notorious for the number of typos it contained in pretty much every edition. The satirical magazine Private Eye took the piss out of this mercilessly, calling the paper The Grauniad then and still doing so to this day. Three and a bit years on from when we first saw it, this typo still makes us laugh. Tuna Turner it is, every time.