All this year I've been gearing up for a special week of Art Nouveau buttons—and so begins this very ornate and distinctive week. I think it's fitting to post these buttons during the days before Christmas. Each button exudes the qualities of an olden-day gift and a work of art. This one, for example, perfectly illustrates the Art Nouveau style with its graceful tendrils, leafy bouquet and a speckled stone as pretty as an Easter egg. The pink oval rests under a brass frond that gives the button a regal quality, as if the work was tailor made for a queen. Also, I can't put my finger on it, but something about this button reminds me of Alice in Wonderland, written by Lewis Carroll in 1865. It's almost as if there's a story hiding in the foliage of this luxuriant formation. Least noticeable is the fact that this button's frilly decorations rest on a piece of chocolate brown Bakelite. As will be the case with every button I post this week, the Bakelite falls to the background of metalwork and usually also a delicious bead or jewel. A triumph of vintage fashion, if this exceedingly lavish button isn't over 100 years old, I reckon it was made in the early nineteen-twenties.
-Sherbert McGee
No comments:
Post a Comment