Beautiful Antique Ironstone

It occurred to me as I was packing for shipment the last of my collection of antique English ironstone at my shop (below), how much I adore this simple "poor man's china."

It also occurred to me how little is known about the history of this beautiful, simple, utilitarian and very old china. Whether you use it as decoration or with a purpose in mind, its white, plain, simple design makes it the perfect accent to any decor.

In the center of a farm table, this ironstone bowl adds white texture and a vintage touch to this kitchen nook (by Atlanta Bartlett)

Ironstone brings beauty to any setting -- not just the kitchen. I adore how Atlanta Bartlett used ironstone in the bedroom to hold knick knacks such as scarfs or jewelry.

But before I get too carried away with the beauty and uses of this wonderful antique, let me offer you a brief history of it.

According to the White Ironstone China Association, "[i]ronstone china as we know it was first patented in 1813 by Charles James Mason in Staffordshire, England. It was an improved china harder than earthenware and stronger than porcelain.
Mason's patent lasted only fourteen years, and by 1827 a number of other potters had already experimented with his formulas. All of these wares were decorated with transfer patterns or brush-stroke designs. Occasionally an undecorated piece would find its way out of the factory, possibly because it was flawed in some way.

In the 1840's, England began exporting the undecorated wares to the American and Canadian markets. The English potters discovered that the "Colonies" preferred the unfussy plain and durable china. Specifically, it was 1842 when James Edwards marketed the first white ironstone china in America.

Late in the 1850's and into the 1860's huge quantities of china were sold to the agricultural communities and called "thrashers' ware." These dinner, tea and chamber sets were embossed with wheat, prairie flowers and corn in order to appeal to the farmers, who had to feed all the people that helped with the harvest.

Little of this plain embossed white ironstone could be found in England until just recently, when a staff member of the City Museum and Art Gallery of Stoke-on-Trent visited the U.S. He purchased several pieces which now reside in the Museum.

This is obviously an oversimplification of the history of English white ironstone in America. There is also the advent of American ironstone manufacture but that's another story."

Today, original ironstone china are collector's items and can command high prices. Still, I adore white antique ironstone and, as the following photos show, I find it to be a beautiful way to add texture, color and age to any corner or focal point of a room or wall.

Ironstones are perfect to display in cabinets and armoires. Who wants an armoire closed when it can look this lovely open?

These ironstone platters and plates of all shapes and sizes add an artistic element to any wall.

The more, the merrier.

But even one in the corner of a kitchen counter is enough.

Against the back wall.

In kitchen shelves.

Some are still being used for their practicality. Feel free to mix and match as a full set of ironstone plates or platter or bowls are very hard to come by. But I just adore mixing sizes and shapes together. (photo courtesy of Bountiful Home).

OMG!!! Look at those pitchers!!!

A backdrop of white ironstone is so pleasing to the eye in this otherwise simple and minimalistic dining room.

The cake platters can be used for just about anything, including a place for utensils or napkins at a dinner party. (photo courtesy of Bountiful Home).

At Agape on Boulevard Raspail in Paris, ironstone is mixed with industrial and primitive pieces (below).

photos courtesy of Paris Parfait.

Even Architectural Digest Magazine featured on its cover a living room whose focal point was nothing other than antique ironstone pitchers.

So go out and save these beautiful pieces of antiquity and history. Find a place in your home in which to display them proudly. But I must warn you, once you start with one, you'll be hooked.

To All Fathers

To all you fathers out there... Both young.....



And old....

Both two legged....

And four legged....

Fathers of all sizes, colors and creed....

And to my own beloved father who is with me no more on this earth, but forever in my heart....

Mario Raul Gentinetta, 2/24/20-2/26/09

Have a very happy and joyous day.

Rug Crazy

Ever since I saw this photo of Jenna Lyon's dressing room, I've been obsessing about this chocolate striped rug. I mean, OBSESSING!!! I already have a couple of really gorgeous thread bare persian rugs like the one on top of this rug, but I need to have, cannot live without, the chocolate striped rug.



But, since most of us don't have neither the chocolate striped rug nor Jenna's pocket book, I've taken it upon myself to find a similar rug that still allows most of us to pay our kids' school tuition.

Enter my new best friend, the Dash & Albert Rug Company.

Founded in 2003, Dash & Albert boasts a collection of rugs that are as durable as they are beautiful and, most importantly, affordable. No kidding. A friend of mine has one of their stunning indoor/outdoor striped rug in her kids' playroom (the Gunnison style) and that thing can take any type of spill whatsoever. You just wipe it off and all is back to normal.

But aside from being practical and affordable, they are just plain beautiful. But don't take my word for it. Take a look for yourself. I'm already in love with the new Swedish Stripe for my own kids' playroom and the chocolate mattress ticking to layer with my broken in antique rug in the family room. They come in both hand woven cotton and in the outdoor/indoor. (Oh, and I love the dogs in the photo. One of them is actually Dash).

And they have matching cotton throws and tote bags that are just sweet as anything.

So that was my obsession for today. It was a nice mental break from all the oil spill news.

The Day the Shucking Stopped

I must admit that I feel as though I am letting some of my readers down by not posting my expected design stories and photos. For those who know me and follow me as a designer and antiques purveyor, I ask for your forgiveness and patience. I continue to work restoring beautiful antiques which, especially at a time when going "green" has never been more important, gives me great satisfaction. Today, 1stdibs released some of my newest creations at http://www.disegnokarinagentinetta.1stdibs.com/ so I hope you will check them out. I continue to be accessible via email at kgentinetta@gmail.com if you have any questions or need to talk about anything. And if you happen to be in New Orleans, please stop by my shop to say "hello" and have a cup of coffee with me.

In the meantime, the design stories and posts must take a backseat at least for the time being. There is so much happening in this world that it seems selfish of me to write about anything else.

Take for instance what recently happened to P&J Oysters Co, a New Orleans legend.
No institution has played a larger role in the advancement of south Louisiana's oyster industry than New Orleans' P&J Oyster Company, the oldest business of its kind in the United States.

For more than 130 years it has been cultivating and harvesting oysters that are consistently recognized for their uncompromising freshness and quality of flavor.


P&J oysters were present at the creation of many legendary dishes of New Orleans' Creole cuisine. One such is the most famous oyster dish of them all-oysters Rockefeller, invented in the 1880s at Antoine's by the restaurant's proprietor, Jules Alciatore.

But the story of P&J begins many thousands of miles from New Orleans - in Croatia, a region that was once part of Yugoslavia.

For the inhabitants of the Croatian villages strung along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, fishing was a way of life for thousands of years. Many generations of them also traveled throughout the Mediterranean as seafarers to practice their trade.

In the mid-1800s, a large number of Croatian fishermen and their families began migrating to America. Many of them found their way to the Gulf of Mexico and Louisiana. Among these was John Popich, who settled near New Orleans. Like many of his countrymen, Popich quickly became an oyster fisherman, plying the waters of the Gulf of Mexico to cultivate and harvest the fresh shellfish that was always in high demand in the homes, restaurants and oyster saloons of New Orleans and its environs.

In 1876, John Popich founded his oyster company. Popich planted, cultivated, harvested and distributed his fresh oysters in the shell to restaurants and saloons in and around the greater New Orleans area for a number of years.

Around the turn of the century, Popich took on a new and younger partner, Joseph Jurisich. Jurisich's family was also in the oyster business owning an oyster saloon in the New Orleans French Quarter, but his parents died when he was a child, so he never had the opportunity to join his family's business. Jurisich was raised by his mother's family, the Federico's.

This partnership gave Popich the ability to concentrate on the oyster farming operation, while Jurisich focused on distributing the oysters to the local market. After a couple of years, the men decided it was time to expand their business and they established the largest oyster shucking operation in the southern United States, naming the company "Popich & Jurisich" or "P&J Oyster Company."

In 1921, the men believed that it was time to expand their operations. They purchased the present day oyster shucking house in the French Quarter on the corner of Toulouse Street and North Rampart Street in the French Quarter. They also took on a salesman, Alfred Sunseri. Alfred was married to Elvira Federico, Joe's first cousin.

Alfred continued working full-time for the United Fruit Company, (Chiquita Bananas) while working as P&J's part-time salesman and bookkeeper. Alfred developed and expanded P&J's shipping business through his shipping contacts he had with the United Fruit Company all over the U.S.

P&J used Railway Express as their major mode of interstate transportation. Railway Express picked up barrels of oysters in the shell, as well as shucked oysters, three times a day from the French Quarter facility and delivered fresh oysters to destinations in 48 states, Canada, and Mexico. With Alfred's customer contacts from the United Fruit Company, P&J became one of the biggest shippers of gulf oysters in the U.S.

In the early 1930's Alfred was offered a national management position at United Fruit Company if he would move to Baltimore, Maryland. He could not turn it down since this was the best financial choice for his young family. Popich and Jurisich wished him farewell and said that if he became homesick, he always had a position at P&J.

P&J had become overwhemling for the two men to handle by themselves. They lost some of their business because of the increased workload since Alfred's departure. After Alfred had been living in Baltimore for nearly six months or so, Jurisich contacted Alfred and offered him a one-third partnership in the business to return to P&J. Alfred did not hesitate to return his family to their beloved New Orleans.

In 1952, Alfred's only son, Sal began working at P&J as an accountant. After a few years the elder Popich and Jurisich decided to retire and relinquish their stock in the business to their children. Upon Alfred's death in 1961, Sal became the president and general manager of P&J Oyster Company.

Sal's young partners became disinterested in the oyster company and began selling their stock to Sal. By the late 1970's, Sal purchased the final shares of stock in the company and became the sole owner.

In 1980, Sal's son, Alfred Sunseri, came to work at P & J and is currently the general manager of the business. In 1984, Sal's second son, Sal Sunseri, Jr., began working full time for the company and is currently the sales manager. In 1991, Sal's youngest daughter, Merri Sunseri-Schneider, became P&J's office manager and bookkeeper.

Today, writer Mireya Navarro, wrote a sad but relevant article in the New York Times' "Green" - A Blog About Energy and the Environment. It was an announcement that made all New Orleanians realize the impact of the oil spill to both our wetlands and way of life (not to mention tradition). Many of you may not be aware of this and so I wanted to share Ms. Navarro's article with you. She wrote:

Last weekend, Sal Sunseri, co-owner and vice president of P&J Oyster Company, the oldest oyster processor and distributor in New Orleans, presided over the city’s inaugural Oyster Festival. Throughout, he refused to entertain the notion that given the closing of many gulf oyster beds because of the oil spill, the first such festival could be the last.

“I’m optimistic,” he told me. “I believe in God and in miracles.”

But the disaster that has already robbed thousands of fishermen of their livelihood led Mr. Sunseri to announce on Thursday that his 134-year-old business has ceased shucking oysters for the time being. He told The Times-Picayune newspaper that he would not shut down his operation entirely because some oysters were still coming in.

But regular production has been halted, and he is not sure what will become of P&J and its 19 employees in the long run.

“Our fisherman have beds that are either closed, or their beds have been inundated with fresh water from the diversions used to increase flow to keep the oil at bay,” Mr. Sunseri told The New York Times in an e-mail message. As a result, he said, “we are not the P&J Oyster company that our restaurants rely on for the finest farm raised oysters in the Louisiana gulf.”

He said he had yet to determine whether those customers would buy East and West coast oysters from P&J. “Not the type of business that we are accustomed to running,” he said sadly.

Similar businesses are also having a hard time and are relying on suppliers from out of state. New Orleans restaurants are still serving oysters; some report that demand for them is even up because customers sense that the end of an era is coming.

At the oyster festival in the French Quarter last weekend, Mr. Sunseri, one of the organizers, effusively told the audience, “We feel very blessed to be able to do this, and hopefully we’ll be doing it for the next 134 years.”

But there are no miracles yet.

P&J's Oysters Joseph

SAL SUNSERI, SR.

This recipe continues to be the one most often served when the current generation of the widespread Sunseri family gets together for a feast. Their father, the late Sal Sunseri, Sr. was the powerhouse who moved P&Js Oysters forward, making it what it is today. He created Oysters Joseph, which was always his favorite dish.

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon shucked oysters
strained oyster liquor
1 stick unsalted butter or margarine
8 toes garlic, minced
3 green onions, finely chopped
3 cups seasoned Italian breadcrumbs
3 lemons
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup fresh grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

YIELD: 10 to 12 servings


Preheat the oven to Broil.

Strain the oyster liquor to remove grit. Set aside. In large heavy bottomed skillet, melt butter or margarine over a low heat. Sauté minced garlic in until soft and translucent, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add oysters and liquor. Cook oysters with sauted garlic for about 3-5 minutes until the oysters plump and edges begin to curl.

Using a 9"-13" Pyrex dish or similar sized casserole dish, spread 1 cup of breadcrumbs evenly on the bottom of the dish. Spoon a layer of oysters and sautéed garlic mixture with 1/3 of the uncooked green onions top of the breadcrumbs.

Add the second 1 cup layer of breadcrumbs and sprinkle a 1/3 cup layer of Romano cheese over them. Drizzle olive oil on top of breadcrumbs and cheese then add the zest of one lemon as well as the juice of the lemon. On top of the layer spoon the remaining oysters and sautéed garlic mixture and the remaining uncooked green onions. Add the last layer of breadcrumbs and sprinkle a 2/3 cup layer of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Cut 1 lemon in 1/8 inch slices and place on top of the cheese and breadcrumbs. Broil on the oven's middle rack until cheese is golden brown and the dish is heated through, 4 to 5 minutes. Watch carefully.

Squeeze the juice of the last lemon on top of the casserole before serving.

The amount of ingredients can be reduced incrementally to produce a smaller quantity.

P&J's Oysters Rockefeller Bisque

AL SUNSERI

Al Sunseri won the Times-Picayune's famous annual recipe contest with this salute to P&J Oysters. Since this magnificent soup is very rich, it may also be served in demitasse cups, doubling the number of servings.

Ingredients:

1/2 gallon plus 1 quart shucked fresh oysters
the juices (liquor) from the oysters
1/2 cup (1 stick) melted unsalted butter
5 green onions, chopped
1/4 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
6 cloves minced garlic
5 stalks finely chopped celery
4 (10-ounce) packages thawed frozen spinach,squeezed dry and chopped
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons Chef Paul's Seafood Magic
1/2 gallon whole milk
1 quart half and half
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 2 lemons
1 cup freshly grated
Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
1/2 cup Herbsaint or Pernod
anisette liqueur
salt to taste

YIELD: 30 servings


Strain the oyster liquor into a bowl to remove grit. Set both the liquor and the oysters themselves aside.

Set aside 1/2 cup of green onions for garnish.

In a large, heavy Dutch oven or cast-iron pot, melt the butter over low heat. When the butter is hot, add the celery, lettuce, garlic, green onion, cayenne and Chef Paul's Seafood Magic and saute until the vegetables are soft, about 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add 24 of the oysters to the sautéed ingredients and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Transfer the oysters and seasonings to a 2-gallon stockpot. Add the milk, half and half and oyster liquor. Pour the mixture in batches into a blender, filling it halfway and blend throughly. Return each batch to the stockpot.

When all of the mixture has been blended, stir the anisette liqueur, cheese, lemon zest and lemon juice into the stockpot. Add all of the remaining oysters and heat over a low flame, stirring occasionally until the oysters are plump and their edges just begin to curl. Add salt to taste.

For a thinner soup, stir in more milk until the desired consistency is achieved. Garnish with green onions. Ladle into bowls or cups and serve. The amount of ingredients can be reduced incrementally to produce less bisque.

If you can still find oysters where you live, I hope you will try these recipes.

Antiques on Jackson

So with tourists cancelling reservations to the Gulf Coast due to the fear of tar balls and other unsavory chemicals in our waters, I felt an urge to tell you that New Orleans is still beautiful and still a place that is worth visiting, despite what seems to be our constant bad luck with natural and, most recently, man-made disasters.

In a recent post, I pointed out the beauty of our city and that of our entire State and wetlands. But New Orleans goes beyond that. Oh, sure, Paris has Clignancourt and the Halifleur Flea Market and the Versailles gardens, etc...... But La Nouvelle Orleans, or the Petite Paris, as New Orleans has been often referred to, has a charm that not even Paris can take away.

One of my favorite places in this city that has always served as an inspiration to me is the antique shop of Maria and Simon Hardeveld, Antiques on Jackson. Simon, a native of Cannes, France, made New Orleans his home more than 30 years ago. Simon is known for his folk art style oil based paintings that capture the playfulness of New Orleans. Maria, his elegant and beautiful wife, has a way with french and italian antiques. She has a talent that you seldom see. A mentor to me, Maria has taught me so much about having an eye for what is truly beautiful and unique. Everything in her shop is absolutely to die for. Sitting in her shop with either Ike or Lilly at your feet (Maria's English bulldogs), you feel as though you have entered a different world and time has stopped for a while. And indeed it has. Maria and Simon live simply, with absolutely no ties or connections to a computer, cell phone or internet of any type. You won't find their treasures online or be able to connect with them via email.

So feast your eyes on this rare treat of seeing some of Maria's gorgeous furnishings online and you will understand how, with shops like these in our little gem of a city, it is rare that we, New Orleanians, ever feel the need to go to Paris.


Vellum covered antique books flank her shop and objets d'art are used sparingly to add age and beauty to an otherwise simple setting.

A stunning 18th c. Italian demi-lune console.

The sweetest florentine painted chest ever! I love the tangerine accents.

Religious relics are a passion of Maria. Here, an Italian altar.

An italian farm table is set in the middle of the shop.

Those gilded sconces have my name on them!

I could stand next to this chair and stare at it all day long.

This pair of Italian mirrors are absolutely stunning!

Turned wood chandeliers are everywhere as are the small lamps of fragments that Maria adores.

Ike makes himself comfortable just about anywhere there is a free space.

And Maria and Simon sporting Simon's latest creation, "The Big Polluters (BP)" t-shirt. Yes, I know what you're thinking, how those two ever got together is a mystery.

Antiques on Jackson, 1028 Jackson Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70130, (504) 524-8201.

Sense vs. Cents

This afternoon I ran across a former law colleague of mine. He looked grim and solemn and so I asked him what was weighing him down. Of course, I immediately thought that this oil spill is weighing on everyone's mind these days, especially down here in the Gulf Coast, and so I was ready to lend some empathetic words of solace to him as we stand united in this cause. In the same manner that you tell someone your mother just passed away, he looked at me and said, "It's this Obama thing. He is trying to now ruin the oil industry. People think they have it bad now, they have no idea of how much worse it will get if he closes these rigs down." I just stood there. I didn't know what to say. I am one not to talk about politics or religion or anything that anyone may have very strong opinions about. I value everyone's position on any matter, but I can't sit and listen to what sounds like sheer selfishness.

I thought about his words over and over this afternoon. Ironically, I was called earlier in the day by the Audubon Society to schedule me as part of my volunteer efforts to receive oiled birds in Port Sulphur, Louisiana. I thought to myself, how can we be so alike and so different at the same time?

I came across the following post tonight that I want to share with all of you. Please don't think of this as a political statement on my part. I don't care whether you are a Democrat or Republican or who you voted for. I don't care what religion you are or to which god you pray when you are alone. We are all in this together and the fact of the matter is that we have this mess on our hands and we must do whatever we can to stop this from happening now and ever again. This is our earth, our home, our children. Value what you have now because it may not be there tomorrow.

Oil Drilling Moratorium: Sense vs Cents

Since the dawn of civilization, the debate over whether mankind is inherently good or evil has raged. While we see amazing acts of kindness and martydom around the world, the selfish outrage that has ensued because of the recent federal moratorium on offshore oil drilling clearly proves otherwise.

Shortly after the explosion on a British Petroleum oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico that caused the death of 11 people and led to the beginning of what continues to be an endless oil spill, President Obama halted all offshore drilling operations. He put this temporary stoppage in place until investigators could figure out exactly what went wrong in the tragic accident and to give scientists and engineers time to come up with preventative measures to stop any future toxic spews if this scenario should repeat itself.

Sounds logical.

Yet, despite the common sense policy, many fellow Americans are calling it outrageous, a knee-jerk reaction, and a blatant over exaggeration. And they are doing so all because they just found out that the safe federal maneuver may cost them a few extra pennies per gallon at the pump.

The protestors cite the rare possibility of such a catastrophic event from happening again. They cite the extremely low percentage of oil spills versus the number of oil rigs in operation off our coastal shores. Despite the fact that their bellows are accurate, they fail to comprehend that even though the ratio may be one oil spill in the last 1,000 oil rigs erected, it is one too many.

Near twenty five thousand gallons of oil continue to gush out of the leaky pipe on a daily basis. Although BP is now capturing some of the leaking sludge, the biggest oil spill in US history continues to grow at an alarming rate. Animals of the Gulf Coast waters are starting to wash up dead on southern beaches. Endangered species of the area are now under more threat of going extinct.

And yet, we Americans don't seem to care. We focus our displeasure not on this eco-disaster, but on the fact that it and the governmental reaction in its aftermath are going to cost us a little more money to fill up our huge SUVs.

Most just naturally believe the oil slick will successfully get cleaned up (assuming we actually stop it one day) and that Mother Nature will wash the noxious slick off its back and rebound to its original vital and healthy state. Maybe this mentality is because it's not occurring in our backyard. Maybe it's because we don't actually see the blackened-tar dead bodies of dolphins and pelicans lying next to our kid's sand castle.

For whatever reason, mankind thinks about the minor hit to its wallet rather than the major blow to the environment it lives in. In doing so, mankind is thinking about today's small onus to its daily struggle rather than its long-term survival.

When it comes to environmental protection, there has always been a reluctance by society to take action. Many citizens and politicians, especially in tough economic times, don't think about what may or may not affect us tomorrow - they think about the here and now. And that thought process always and inevitably comes back to one thing: money.

Jobs, investing, and development don't necessarily go hand-in-hand with the pro-environmental movement, although recently many are trying to change that through the push for renewable energy sources.

Selfishness is the act of putting our own needs ahead of the needs and desires of others. In a nut shell, it is the equivalent of people voicing their concern over a federal oil drilling moratorium simply because they want a few extra green dollars in their pockets rather than ensuring there is a healthy, green planet here for our kids and grandkids to enjoy. (Another Happy Meal for your child or an investment in his or her future?)

We are human and, whether we like it or not, we run the gamut of dramatic emotions and feelings - be it happiness, sadness, kindness, guilt, greed, or selfishness. It's just the way it is. So, the debate on whether mankind is inherently good or evil will futilely rage on well into the future.

That is if there is a planet still here to allow it.




Posted by BizarroGuy at http://blogcritics.org/politics/article/oil-drilling-moratorium-sense-vs-cents