Our primer continues. On the importance of washing things properly, on cleanliness, and on quality.
Ninety-nine per cent of the porcelain and ceramics in my collection and in my stock I wash by hand, without chemicals, in warm water. Only then do I photograph it. There are many reasons for this, and setting aside the obvious hygienic ones, a simple wash lets you see what has been hidden. To the point of farce, sometimes. Somebody once tried to sell me a very old cup with a crack painted over in chalk — the chalk vanished, naturally, the moment a finger was run along the length of it.
Now, why good photographs and cleanliness matter — cleanliness of thought included. Look at the next two photographs. They show napkin rings decorated in a Christmas style. Enlarge the picture and you can notice two things: first, the rings are a bit dirty; second, a practised eye will spot another "shortcoming", which disappears in the third photograph.
Well now — the listing says handmade!
They look lovely, but a bit grubby. Shall we wash them?
So we take them and wash them:
Nice and clean — but where has the pattern gone?!
Ah. And there is the quality: the pattern was a cheap transfer, the colour of the ceramic varies from ring to ring, and there are production faults. Cheap, though! Compare: in Russia these would have cost me 600 roubles, transfers and all, while the ones I brought back from Japanese makers cost ten times that. But the quality there is beyond reproach. Craft, as they say, doesn't wash off — transfers do.
And these are the expensive Noritake rings. Clean and beautiful. Treated properly, they will outlive us all.
A little history now: in the 1960s and 1970s the Canadian company Doubl Glo brought into North America a great mass of cheap table decorations, tree ornaments and assorted souvenirs made in China — in the bad sense of the phrase. Today their goods have historical value and sell on eBay itself, sometimes for quite unhinged sums.
So: porcelain and ceramics must be washed. Gently, carefully, in warm water, without abrasives or chemicals. With love only, and bare hands.
When you get a cup from me, wash it too — tame it, and it becomes yours. It is a ritual, and it must be performed. The cup will get used to you, and you to it. Cleanliness is the foundation of health.
And not of health alone. That is exactly why I show everything, explain everything, and share what other dealers in old things would rather keep hidden. Because a reputation ought to be clean. Like one's intentions, one's tableware, and one's soul.
Thank you for reading. Don't touch that dial — there will be more.