{Antique Christofle Knife Rests in Fleur de Lys}

Another French treasure to show you here. Antique Christofle knife rests from the end of the 19th century, with a Fleur de Lys pattern. A rare quantity of 14 this time, available in 8 and 6 piece sets. They will be perfect for saving your precious table linens from getting soiled. Shown here as a table setting with Royal Albert Friendship Daffodil China and Le Jacquard Français table linen. Resting on this knife rest is my Gero Zilmeta 528 Menuet flatware.

Can you imagine that in 1883 Christofle did equip the Orient Express with their silver ware? What a luxury life for the Avant Garde... And in 1898 they equiped the Ritz Paris with fine silver ware. In 1935 Christofle realized 45,000 pieces designed by Luc Lanel for the Luxury Liner Normandie. That was a cruise ship like the Titanic... what a dream life for the upper class! Those Luc Lanel pieces I also have shown 11 Vintage French Christofle Luc Lanel 'Ondulation' Knife Rests.
These Christofle knife rests are available at my: Spectrenoir

From the book Christofle by David Rosenberg you also can learn about the above mentioned history. It is shown in the blog with the Luc Lanel design, link is above. 

Photos were taken on March 9, hence the paperwhite narcissus...

It is shown here on page 21 from the Christofle 1842-1883 catalogue, as number 3364 Porte-couteaux ferrure.

I received this copy from a friendly Frenchman! Wish I had the entire catalogue...

Left you see the old hall mark in a diamond shape with a bee below, a C (for Charles Christofle) to the left and to the right, a scale in-between with stars above. Separately in block letters the word Christofle.

Rather hard to capture... you cannot get near the hallmark with your camera because of the four Fleur de Lys.

Owning such a piece does cover quite some history.

This Maker's Mark is from the 2nd half of the 19th century.

Fourteen of them and some do have the hall mark to the right.

Only 8 are available at Spectrenoir... 6 are sold!

Today, as in the past, whether gracing the tables of emperors, princes or maharajas, in palaces, on board the Trans-Siberian Railway, Orient Express or transatlantic ocean liners or in contemporary restaurants, Christofle continues to make an impression.

Sorry Sold out...

{English: A tricky language indeed...}

Just like to share this story with you, from the Jakarta Post from the time that we lived and worked in Indonesia. March 1997. My friend Orchid from Japan will appreciate this. She wrote recently about loanwords in the Japanese language Tea Cup and (Sweet) Loanword in Japan♪. Just click on the photo to enlarge so you can read it clearly and enjoy!

{Our Hibiscus syriacus 'Blushing Bride' from Quero, Belluno in Italy}

One more special Hibiscus syriacus 'Blushing Bride' Blushing Bride Rose of Sharon, did come from Quero, Belluno in Italy. In my previous blog from October 19: {HELP ME FIND ITALIAN ARTIST M. SOTGIU mother of Luigi Tramarollo} you can see some more information about my most scenic road to work. Along the river Piave, to Quero, a small town in the mountains. Alongside the road, close to the plant, there was the most fabulous 'hedge' with double pink Hibiscus syriacus 'Blushing Bride'.

After the blooms had gone, I did stop one day in order to collect some of the seedpods. Soon enough an older gentleman stopped and asked what I was doing. I told him that I loved those gorgeous pink blossoms so much that I tried to grow some from seeds. He said no, no... That made me stop in my action. Quickly he pulled out of his pocket a Fiskars bypass pruner and started clipping off cuttings for me. He went on to tell me that you couldn't grow them from seeds, this was the way to do it. Graciously I accepted this generous gift. We did take them home to The Netherlands where Dad managed to keep them alive and he even has still some himself. His did far better than ours! So once again we got a precious memory from the Veneto region where we lived and worked. Look for yourself and tell me if you would not have fallen in love with these blooms...

We did loose most of ours and fortunately we could save just enough clippings to start all over. This is the result with the very first blossom!

Here they are in pots, just outside of the greenhouse where they over-wintered.

Their heart is a much darker pink. Look how healthy they are. So glad that we could revive them!

This is Dad with his version of Hibiscus syriacus 'Blushing Bride' on the right and another variety on the left which he did bring home from Georgia. After all, he is a professional Market Gardener... The Netherlands has the perfect climate for growing any plant, tree or flower, except tropical species.

Related links:

{Our Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc & Our Life in Italy} | previous post about our double white one

LEARN from Husband Pieter's Successful Rooting of Hibiscus syriacus Jeanne D'Arc | another post 

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