The Love of Feeling Blue

It seems like every home decorating magazine I open these days has a blue and white piece of porce">
It seems like every home decorating magazine I open these days has a blue and white piece of porcelain sitting on a table, hanging on a wall, or nestled on a shelf. Blue and white porcelain is classic and its popularity continues year after year. It's truly timeless.

Though most blue and white patterns we're familiar with have Chinese designs, the use of cobalt on china was discovered and used way before the Chinese by the Persians in the Middle East back in the nineth century through decorative experimentation on white ware. It was then brought to China and the technique was perfected. Cobalt white ware was even shunned in 1368 by the Ming Dynasty for a time by the Court, because it was felt to be too foreign in inspiration.

Later, during the seventeenth century, blue and white ware became popular in the European markets and thus started to take on more European design. It was eventually brought to America where Chinese blue and white was in high demand well into the nineteenth century.

It's no wonder blue and white porcelain is considered timeless. Its popularity has spanned centuries, traveling around the world, inspired and perfected by multiple cultures. It held global impact before we even came up with the term "globalization". And though the color originated in Iran, and the techniques and designs in China, it has become a part of the heritage of many American families. How beautiful and amazing is that?