Basket of Flowers
By Emma Stover
After visiting the Wadsworth, one piece has been stuck in my brain. As soon as I saw it, it became my object of desire, it was everything I wanted it to be and more. This piece was titled simply, “Basket of Flowers." It is exactly as it is titled, a basket of flowers, but the flowers were made from delicate porcelain and silk.Unlike the classic woven basket, they were held in an intricate porcelain and bronze one. The piece at first glance was an ordinary bouquet, but it oozed with craftsmanship and delicacy. It is unlike large paintings in gilded frames and massive statues of marble. It tries its best to replicate an everyday object in a tastefully preserved way.There is not much of a history to be found through research of this object. It was bought by J. Pierpont Morgan in 1900 and displayed at the Princess Gate in London prior to being gifted to the Wadsworth. Due to the many unknowns of this piece, I decided to research the flowers themselves. Flowers have often been used as their own language, to tell stories and convey meaning. Although it is difficult to identify the exact flowers in this everlasting bouquet, with the help of Emma Perry we are fairly certain of a few of them. One of the most obvious ones was the pink and white tulips near the top of the bouquet. The most common and well known meaning of tulips is “deep love”. They are also associated with rebirth due to their early bloom. Another flower in the piece was pink and white carnations. These are also associated with love. The pink part is known to mean affection, while white is synonymous with innocence. There are small clusters of yellow daffodils in the bouquet. The daffodil is a symbol of rebirth, similarly to the tulip. It also has an early blooming period. The white flowers at the very top of the piece could very well be representative of larkspur. This flower represents love and an open heart. In general the bouquet seems to be telling the story of new love, the innocence of a first love perhaps.
Although flower bouquets just like this could be made everyday using real flowers, this rendition of a flower bouquet has something special. It is undying, everlasting love. It conveys intricacy and delicacy in its form. It feels special. Despite its rather undocumented past, it tells stories in its composition. It inspires me on a level that few other artistic pieces can do.
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