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Dish of the day: Mottahedah Famille Verte

This was one of my mothers favorite patterns and seems so appropriate to take a look at on this rather glorious first day of spring. Famille Verte is gorgeous, a centuries old pattern of the 18th century Imperial Palace, this celadon green beauty is still available to for us to enjoy today.  I love it and have many pieces of it in my collection. The piece shown here is the 5 lobed Cachepot, isn't it gorgeous dressed to the nines with so many lovely daffodils?  

As a full dinner set it's a little much , but I love to mix the salad plates and serving pieces with my mothers Coalport Indian Tree Coral dinner plates and a gold lacquered service plate. For accents in front of each placesetting I use the green crystal shrub glasses that she left me and I fill them with little bouquets of deep coral roses and St. Johns Wort berries. If I'm really feeling daring, I'll use my plain Baccarat crystal stemware but mix it up with  wine glasses of deep green and black napkins!

Famille Verte is available at many fine retailers. So how about you? What is your favorite china pattern? If you've got some old sets and you don't know what to do with them just write me at beth@schreibmans.com and I'll send you some suggestions. Sometimes all it takes is just a simple  addition to have you fall in love with a dish all over again!

 

Photographs courtesy of Mottahedah.com

Dish of the Day: Bernardaud Louvre

Meet one of my favorite all purpose china patterns; Louvre from The House of Bernardaud. Bernardaud is a beautiful old French porcelain company that has successfully made the transition from formal to contemporary styling. However, for all of you Francophiles out there their full collection of historical patterns are still in production and they are as beautiful as ever.

Bernardaud's Louvre is made from hard paste porcelain and the first thing that you'll notice is that each piece is wonderfully different, with embellishments inspired by the wonderful Louvre Museum in Paris. That would be reason enough for me to love it, but one of the best things about this pattern is the many different serving pieces that are available for special order. Do you want a condiment tray, pate' dish or a soup tureen? What about a wine bottle coaster or a coupe soup plate? A Coquille dish or a valet tray? All of them are available and so many more! 

Bernardaud Louvre is my "go to" pattern whenever a client comes to me with an old set of dishes that she wants to use but is missing some pieces from. It's also a perfect set for a bride who wants to choose an all white pattern but wants something a little more interesting with a bit of French flourish.  It's a very reasonable choice for a great French hard paste porcelain and will last for a long while without much threat of chipping. Bernardaud is generally found only in very fine tabletop stores and upscale giftware departments however this pattern is competitively  priced and will be available for a very long time, unlike many of the dinnerware patterns that you'll see  being sold in the well known big box stores. Go enjoy the Bernardaud website for awhile because I'm sure that you'll find plenty to love there. To see the full collection of Louvre dinnerware and serving pieces Click Here!