This is a detail of a china painting on a very old letter holder my mother gave to me. I have loved it forever, but frankly, have never really registered that it was purple until I roamed the house looking for purple things. The rendering of the flowers are so beautiful and the combination of the purple, white and gold leaf is really lovely. We've all heard that purple is the color of royalty and mixed with gold, it certainly has that feel. This piece is very elegant and special, probably in great part, due to the use of purple instead of black or another color to render the flowers. I love the contrast of this use of purple to kalliope's first example which speaks to total sport.
Comments