{"title":"Blues","description":"\u003cp\u003eBlues from indigo to ultramarine: waves, night skies, cyanotypes and Matisse's cut-outs. Art mugs for a cool, calm morning.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"henri-matisse-icarus","title":"Henri Matisse: Icarus, 1947 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHenri Matisse\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eIcarus\u003c\/em\u003e, 1947\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween 1943 and 1947, while recovering from major surgery and largely confined to his rooms in Vence, Henri Matisse worked almost entirely with scissors. Sheets of paper were painted in flat gouache to his instruction; he then cut into them directly, drawing with the blade rather than the pencil — \"cutting directly into colour,\" as he put it. \u003cem\u003eJazz\u003c\/em\u003e, published by Tériade in Paris in 1947, was the first public appearance of the method: twenty plates printed in pochoir, each colour brushed through a stencil in the same gouache tones Matisse had cut, interleaved with pages reproducing his own large handwriting.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eIcarus\u003c\/em\u003e is plate VIII. A dark figure falls against a field of deep blue, the heart a single red disc, yellow stars scattered around it — one of them cut so freely that it runs off the blue and onto the bare paper. The myth of the boy who flew too near the sun becomes, in Matisse's hands, not a warning but an image of flight itself. Facing the plate in the book, on page 54, Matisse asks in his own hand: \u003cem\u003e« Ne devrait-on pas faire accomplir un grand voyage en avion aux jeunes gens ayant terminé leurs études ? »\u003c\/em\u003e — \"Should not young people who have finished their studies be sent on a great journey by aeroplane?\" The mug carries the plate alone; the fourth product image shows the opening it comes from, handwriting and all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-gerbe\"\u003eLa Gerbe, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-self-portrait\"\u003eSelf-Portrait, 1930\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-the-snail\"\u003eThe Snail, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-blue-nude-ii-mug\"\u003eBlue Nude II, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-nuit-de-noel-christmas-night-mug\"\u003eNuit de Noël, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-les-velours-mug\"\u003eLes Velours, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/matisse-la-danse-mug\"\u003eLa Danse, 1909\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-danse-graveur-mug\"\u003eLa Danse (Barnes Mural), 1933\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenri Matisse, \u003cem\u003eIcare\u003c\/em\u003e, plate VIII from \u003cem\u003eJazz\u003c\/em\u003e, Paris, Tériade, 1947; pochoir. Bibliothèque nationale de France, département Réserve des livres rares, RES G-Z-165. Source gallica.bnf.fr \/ Bibliothèque nationale de France. Public domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom; Matisse died in 1954. This mug is not sold into the United States.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57724211560779,"sku":"955b2c1a-14b4-47be-8687-09ca91b4cf2a","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/e2bbda85-da13-485c-8ccb-7a86da4f8a26.jpg?v=1787674995"},{"product_id":"henri-matisse-blue-nude-ii-mug","title":"Henri Matisse: Blue Nude II, 1952 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHenri Matisse\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlue Nude II\u003c\/em\u003e, 1952\u003cbr\u003elithograph published in Verve\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe four \u003cem\u003eBlue Nudes\u003c\/em\u003e (1952) are among the most commanding achievements of Matisse's final period, made when he was eighty-two years old and had been working almost exclusively in the cut-out technique for a decade. The figures are composed entirely from shapes cut from paper painted in a single shade of cerulean blue — the cutting and arranging serving simultaneously as drawing and painting, the process by which Matisse arrived at forms that could not have been achieved by any other means. The \u003cem\u003eBlue Nudes\u003c\/em\u003e were not made as a series but as independent explorations of the same problem: how to render the human figure through cut colour alone, stripping away everything that conventional representation would regard as necessary.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eBlue Nude II\u003c\/em\u003e shows a seated female figure in a pose that reconfigures bodily weight and volume into something simultaneously anatomical and abstract — the body understood as a set of planar relationships rather than as a described surface. The version reproduced here is the colour lithograph published in \u003cem\u003eVerve\u003c\/em\u003e, Volume IX, Numbers 35–36 (\u003cem\u003eDernières Oeuvres de Matisse 1950–54\u003c\/em\u003e), 1958, which disseminated the cut-outs to an international audience after Matisse's death. The lithograph measures 36.5 × 27 cm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-gerbe\"\u003eLa Gerbe, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-icarus\"\u003eIcarus, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-self-portrait\"\u003eSelf-Portrait, 1930\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-the-snail\"\u003eThe Snail, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-nuit-de-noel-christmas-night-mug\"\u003eNuit de Noël, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-les-velours-mug\"\u003eLes Velours, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/matisse-la-danse-mug\"\u003eLa Danse, 1909\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-danse-graveur-mug\"\u003eLa Danse (Barnes Mural), 1933\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenri Matisse, \u003cem\u003eBlue Nude II\u003c\/em\u003e, 1952; colour lithograph published in \u003cem\u003eVerve\u003c\/em\u003e, vol. IX, nos. 35–36, 1958. Public domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom; Matisse died in 1954. This mug is not sold into the United States.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723585331531,"sku":"af75be17-b584-44e6-8a30-2b4ea41c15b5","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/a3582038-d81a-49b1-b491-f2e2200a5bba.jpg?v=1786718343"},{"product_id":"claude-monet-woman-with-a-parasol-mug","title":"Claude Monet: Woman with a Parasol, 1875 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eClaude Monet (1840-1926)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eWoman with a Parasol - Madame Monet and Her Son\u003c\/em\u003e, 1875\u003cbr\u003eOil on canvas, 100 x 81 cm (framed 119.4 x 99.7 cm)\u003cbr\u003eNational Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, inv. 1983.1.29\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain; the Gallery states that this object's media is free and in the public domain (NGA Open Access)\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eClaude Monet painted \u003cem\u003eWoman with a Parasol — Madame Monet and Her Son\u003c\/em\u003e in 1875, at a moment when Impressionism was still a contested proposition and the movement's founding figures were engaged in their most urgent experiment with light, colour, and the representation of outdoor experience. The painting shows Monet's wife Camille on a hillside, her son Jean slightly behind and below her; the viewpoint is low, so that the figures are seen against the sky rather than the landscape, the parasol casting its warm shadow across Camille's face and dress. The composition is built on the sensation of wind — the grass moves, the dress billows, the clouds shift — and on the way midday summer light bleaches and divides colour into its constituent sensations.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe work is now in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, a gift of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon. It was painted at Argenteuil, where Monet lived from 1871 to 1878, in the most productive period of his early career. Camille appears in many of his major works from this period; she died in 1879, aged thirty-two, and the paintings of her retain a particular quality of attention — she is always exactly herself, never a generalised figure, which is what separates Monet's best work from the merely Impressionist and places it in the category of portraiture, even when portraiture was not its stated purpose.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/monet-stacks-of-wheat-1891\"\u003eStacks of Wheat, 1890–91\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eClaude Monet, \u003cem\u003eWoman with a Parasol — Madame Monet and Her Son\u003c\/em\u003e, 1875; oil on canvas, 100 × 81 cm. National Gallery of Art, Washington, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.29. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723605221707,"sku":"24a00b96-b1ed-409f-a353-a60e1b4031e6","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Monet_Mug_front_v3.jpg?v=1787126762"},{"product_id":"giotto-madonna-child-art-mug","title":"Giotto di Bondone: Madonna and Child, c. 1310 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eGiotto di Bondone\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eMadonna and Child\u003c\/em\u003e, c. 1310\u003cbr\u003etempera on poplar panel, 85.4 × 61.8 cm\u003cbr\u003eKress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003ePainted in the same years as the Scrovegni Chapel frescoes, this is the moment when Western painting broke with Byzantine convention: figures began to occupy space, faces began to hold emotion. The work passed through the collection of New York banker Henry Goldman before entering the Samuel H. Kress Collection — a trajectory that traces how Renaissance devotional painting migrated from Florentine altars to American museums.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe rose in Mary's hand is not decoration. It is a theological argument: she is identified with the Church as the bride of Christ. The Christ Child's gesture simultaneously signals divine mission and human attachment. This is not the most famous Giotto — it is the one that rewards looking.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGiotto di Bondone, \u003cem\u003eMadonna and Child\u003c\/em\u003e, c. 1310–1315, tempera on poplar panel, 85.4 × 61.8 cm. Samuel H. Kress Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":50957461586251,"sku":"0fb589cb-a69b-4a03-af88-f9e99ef2a63e","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Giotto_Mug_front_v3.jpg?v=1787129205"},{"product_id":"swiss-alps-calling-mug","title":"Hans Aeschbach: Swiss Alps Calling, 1951 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHans Aeschbach\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eSwiss Alps Calling\u003c\/em\u003e, 1951\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eA strong silhouette, a handful of colours handled at maximum contrast, a direct address that reads instantly at the scale of a railway concourse or a travel agency window. Hans Aeschbach's \u003cem\u003eSwiss Alps Calling\u003c\/em\u003e of 1951 belongs to the postwar moment when travel was resuming, when the Alps were being reconceived as a destination for an expanding tourist market, and when graphic design was the medium through which that invitation was issued.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSwiss tourism poster design reached its classic period in the decades after the Second World War, when a generation of trained graphic artists were commissioned by the Swiss Federal Railways, cantonal tourism offices and the Swiss Tourist Board to draw visitors to a country that had emerged from the war years largely intact. Aeschbach worked in that tradition, in the bold, flat-colour idiom that Swiss graphic design had made internationally influential. The poster is now a historical document as well as a visual pleasure: a record of how Switzerland presented itself to the world at a specific moment in the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHans Aeschbach (1911–1999), \u003cem\u003eSwiss Alps Calling\u003c\/em\u003e, 1951, tourism poster. Reproduced by permission of the Aeschbach family. Foto: Plakatsammlung, Museum für Gestaltung Zürich, ZHdK.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723489845579,"sku":"64c1638d-636c-4b34-9abd-36ae5ec6d680","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/SwissAlps_Mug_front_v3.jpg?v=1787131446"},{"product_id":"henri-matisse-nuit-de-noel-christmas-night-mug","title":"Henri Matisse: Nuit de Noël, 1952 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHenri Matisse\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eNuit de Noël\u003c\/em\u003e, 1952\u003cbr\u003elithograph 1958\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1952, \u003cem\u003eTime\u003c\/em\u003e magazine commissioned Henri Matisse to design a stained-glass window for its New York offices — a commission he accepted at the age of eighty-two, working from his apartment in Nice where illness had largely confined him for the previous decade. The resulting design, \u003cem\u003eNuit de Noël\u003c\/em\u003e (Christmas Night), was completed in 1952 and translated into glass the following year. Like all of Matisse's late work, it was made using the cut-out technique: shapes cut from paper painted in pure gouache, then arranged and rearranged until the composition resolved itself. The design was subsequently issued as a lithograph, in editions of 1951 and 1958, reproducing the brilliant yellows and blues of the stained glass in a form that could be widely distributed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNuit de Noël\u003c\/em\u003e is a composition of extraordinary simplicity and radiance: abstract leaf and star forms in saturated yellow against a ground of deep blue, the whole suggesting candlelight, cold sky, and the particular stillness of the Christmas season without depicting any of them directly. It is Matisse at his most distilled — the reduction of a complex visual idea to its irreducible essentials — and it demonstrates that the cut-out method, which had begun as a practical adaptation to physical limitation, had become the most expressive instrument of his final years.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-gerbe\"\u003eLa Gerbe, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-icarus\"\u003eIcarus, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-self-portrait\"\u003eSelf-Portrait, 1930\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-the-snail\"\u003eThe Snail, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-blue-nude-ii-mug\"\u003eBlue Nude II, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-les-velours-mug\"\u003eLes Velours, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/matisse-la-danse-mug\"\u003eLa Danse, 1909\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-danse-graveur-mug\"\u003eLa Danse (Barnes Mural), 1933\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenri Matisse, \u003cem\u003eNuit de Noël\u003c\/em\u003e (Christmas Night), maquette 1952, lithograph 1958. Public domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom; Matisse died in 1954. This mug is not sold into the United States.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723491189067,"sku":"b0e4cc5c-dd14-40ca-8b7a-b4eacea5133f","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/ef928290-421e-4b91-afd2-d4b91d117f00.jpg?v=1786719984"},{"product_id":"sherlock-holmes-the-reichenbach-falls-mug","title":"Frederic Dorr Steele: Sherlock Holmes, 1903 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eFrederic Dorr Steele\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eSherlock Holmes\u003c\/em\u003e, 1903\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen Arthur Conan Doyle brought Sherlock Holmes back from the dead in \"The Adventure of the Empty House\" — published in \u003cem\u003eCollier's Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e on 26 September 1903 after a ten-year absence, following Holmes's apparent death at the Reichenbach Falls — the magazine needed an illustration equal to the occasion. Frederic Dorr Steele (1873–1944) provided it. His cover image of Holmes, shown in deerstalker cap and Inverness cape, became one of the most recognisable portraits of a fictional character in the history of illustration. Steele would go on to illustrate the Holmes stories for American publications over several decades, and his visual interpretation of the detective — lean, intense, the pipe and cape inseparable from the figure — became the dominant American image of Holmes, influencing theatrical productions, film adaptations, and popular imagination well into the twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe deerstalker and cape were not Doyle's invention: they came from Sidney Paget's earlier illustrations for \u003cem\u003eThe Strand Magazine\u003c\/em\u003e in London. But Steele refined and popularised the look for American readers, and his 1903 \u003cem\u003eCollier's\u003c\/em\u003e cover stands as the moment when Holmes's visual identity was fully consolidated on both sides of the Atlantic. The illustration combines the character's famous penetrating intelligence — evident in the posture, the slight forward lean — with the period atmosphere of the gaslit Edwardian thriller: fog, cape, the suggestion of a London street.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrederic Dorr Steele, cover illustration, \u003cem\u003eCollier's Weekly\u003c\/em\u003e, 26 September 1903. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723312210251,"sku":"2138a654-6047-468a-b004-a4f869a2d511","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Sherlock_Mug_front_v4_1262376d-2dd3-49bb-9268-7f49ff5cdd09.jpg?v=1787300584"},{"product_id":"matisse-la-danse-mug","title":"Henri Matisse: La Danse, 1909 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHenri Matisse\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eLa Danse\u003c\/em\u003e, 1909\u003cbr\u003eoil on canvas\u003cbr\u003eMuseum of Modern Art, New York\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenri Matisse painted the first version of \u003cem\u003eLa Danse\u003c\/em\u003e in 1909 as a study for the monumental commission placed by the Russian collector Sergei Shchukin — a work that would hang at the top of the staircase in his Moscow mansion alongside a companion panel, \u003cem\u003eLa Musique\u003c\/em\u003e. The painting shows five figures in a ring, their bodies reduced to bare essentials: pink against green and blue, movement arrested at its most expressive point.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe composition has roots in Matisse's own earlier work — a background group of dancing figures appears in \u003cem\u003eLe Bonheur de vivre\u003c\/em\u003e (1906) — but in \u003cem\u003eLa Danse\u003c\/em\u003e everything peripheral has been stripped away. What remains is rhythm, colour, and the suggestion of an energy that predates individual consciousness. The painting entered the collection of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1963.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-gerbe\"\u003eLa Gerbe, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-icarus\"\u003eIcarus, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-self-portrait\"\u003eSelf-Portrait, 1930\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-the-snail\"\u003eThe Snail, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-blue-nude-ii-mug\"\u003eBlue Nude II, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-nuit-de-noel-christmas-night-mug\"\u003eNuit de Noël, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-les-velours-mug\"\u003eLes Velours, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-danse-graveur-mug\"\u003eLa Danse (Barnes Mural), 1933\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenri Matisse, \u003cem\u003eLa Danse\u003c\/em\u003e (first version), 1909, oil on canvas. Museum of Modern Art, New York. Public domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom; Matisse died in 1954. This mug is not sold into the United States. Matisse's name identifies the historical artwork; it does not suggest endorsement or affiliation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57723308376395,"sku":"fce0c01c-dda1-4ca4-9a41-b7de773baf60","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/eb9eca7a-0104-46f4-a87e-28e7e52f502e.jpg?v=1786720238"},{"product_id":"henri-matisse-la-danse-graveur-mug","title":"Henri Matisse: La Danse (Barnes Mural), 1933 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eHenri Matisse\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eLa Danse (Barnes Mural)\u003c\/em\u003e, 1933\u003cbr\u003eBarnes Foundation mural, 1930–33\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eBetween 1930 and 1933, Henri Matisse undertook his most ambitious single commission: three enormous panels for the Barnes Foundation in Merion, Pennsylvania, depicting dancing figures in a monumental architectural setting. Albert C. Barnes had commissioned the work to occupy the lunettes above the main hall of his museum — irregular arched spaces that forced Matisse to reinvent his approach entirely. The first version, now at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, was abandoned when Matisse discovered he had worked to the wrong dimensions; the final version, delivered to the Barnes Foundation in 1933 and installed in 1935, was the largest painting Matisse had ever made.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe \u003cem\u003eBarnes Dance\u003c\/em\u003e — as it has come to be called informally — marks a decisive shift in Matisse's work toward a more austere, architectural style. The figures are simplified to the point of becoming near-geometric, the palette reduced to pink, blue, grey, and black. The three linked panels create a single continuous composition of extraordinary rhythm and power, designed to be experienced in relation to the architecture rather than as an easel painting encountered at close range.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-la-gerbe\"\u003eLa Gerbe, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-icarus\"\u003eIcarus, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-self-portrait\"\u003eSelf-Portrait, 1930\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-the-snail\"\u003eThe Snail, 1953\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-blue-nude-ii-mug\"\u003eBlue Nude II, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-nuit-de-noel-christmas-night-mug\"\u003eNuit de Noël, 1952\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/henri-matisse-les-velours-mug\"\u003eLes Velours, 1947\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/matisse-la-danse-mug\"\u003eLa Danse, 1909\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHenri Matisse, \u003cem\u003eThe Dance\u003c\/em\u003e, Barnes Foundation mural, 1930–33. Public domain in Switzerland, the EU and the United Kingdom; Matisse died in 1954. This mug is not sold into the United States. Matisse's name identifies the historical artwork; it does not suggest endorsement or affiliation.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":56856454529355,"sku":"d28aea51-6cfd-4c33-bfb8-9dcce302b3a2","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/0e441058-9170-46cb-bea6-c7652737d148.jpg?v=1786789455"},{"product_id":"anna-atkins-cyanotype-botany-mug","title":"Anna Atkins: Cyanotype Ferns, 1840s – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eAnna Atkins\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eCyanotype Ferns, 1840s\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNational Gallery of Art, Washington, D\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eA fern laid straight onto sensitised paper and left in the sun. No camera, no lens: white fronds standing against the deep Prussian blue of the cyanotype ground, each leaflet resolved with a clarity no hand-drawn illustration could match. The sheet is from the 1840s and is now in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnna Atkins (1799–1871) was a British botanist who in 1843 produced what is widely recognised as the first photographically illustrated book: \u003cem\u003ePhotographs of British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions\u003c\/em\u003e, issued in self-published fascicles over the following decade. She had learned the cyanotype process — a photosensitive technique using iron salts — directly from its inventor, Sir John Herschel, who communicated it the previous year, and she applied it not as a novelty but as a scientific instrument: specimens placed directly onto coated paper and exposed to sunlight, yielding silhouettes of extraordinary precision. Atkins understood that photography and natural history were not in competition but in alliance, and her work stands at the intersection of Victorian science, botanical illustration and the new visual art of photography in its first decade.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAnna Atkins, \u003cem\u003eFerns. Specimen of Cyanotype\u003c\/em\u003e, 1840s. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":56856454267211,"sku":"cde77fa9-35cd-4bc6-883f-e805b326d281","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Atkins_Mug_front_v3.jpg?v=1787130693"},{"product_id":"melli-beese-aviatress-mug","title":"Melli Beese, Germany's First Aviatress, 1911 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003eMelli Beese, Germany's First Aviatress\u003c\/em\u003e, 1911\u003cbr\u003ePhotographer unrecorded\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eOn 13 September 1911, her twenty-fifth birthday, Amelie \"Melli\" Beese passed her pilot's examination at the Johannisthal airfield near Berlin and became the first woman to hold a German aviator's licence, number 115. The achievement had not come easily: her male colleagues at the flight school sabotaged her aircraft on the day of her first attempt, and she was forced to repeat the test. She passed anyway, flying the required figure-eights and altitude trials with the composure that would mark her whole career. Within months she had founded her own flying school at Johannisthal and was training other pilots.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe photograph on this mug is a real-photo postcard from that airfield — printed from the negative onto photographic paper, not reproduced in ink. Two captions are scratched into the negative itself: \u003cem\u003eFlugplatz Johannisthal\u003c\/em\u003e across the top, and at the foot, in quotation marks, \u003cem\u003e„Frl. Beese auf Rumpler-Taube“\u003c\/em\u003e. The „Frl.“ dates the card. Beese married Charles Boutard on 25 January 1913, so the picture was made in 1911 or 1912, in the months around the licence she had taken on a machine of exactly this type. She sits at the wheel in flying helmet and light coat, one hand on the rim, looking straight out of the frame.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe same negative also went to the illustrated press. A second sheet in this collection, shown in the gallery, has it as a printed plate: a wider frame that keeps the whole leading edge of the wing and the distant hangar, set in a ruled border, captioned in Fraktur \u003cem\u003e„Fräulein Beese, die erste deutsche Flugzeugpilotin.“\u003c\/em\u003e and credited at the right to the \u003cem\u003eInternationale Illustrations-Agentur in Berlin\u003c\/em\u003e. Two things follow. The picture was agency work — syndicated, not made for one client — which is why the same frame appears both as a postcard and on a printed page. And the two captions on the card are no part of the photograph: the press plate carries neither of them. They were scratched in for the postcard edition, and the wider frame was trimmed away at the same time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe card had been in circulation and shows it: foxing in the sky, a soft crease along the upper edge, the small marks that a century of pockets and albums leaves behind. Those have been taken out for this edition. The tone, the photographic grain and both captions are as they are on the card.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eReal-photo postcard, \u003cem\u003e„Frl. Beese auf Rumpler-Taube“\u003c\/em\u003e, Flugplatz Johannisthal, Berlin, 1911–12. Photographer unrecorded; the negative was distributed by the Internationale Illustrations-Agentur in Berlin, whose credit stands under the press reproduction of the same frame. Both sheets from the collection of Dr. Walther Fuchs; the card scanned from the original at 600 dpi. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":56856453415243,"sku":"f51f572f-c70d-4f40-978b-9cf1ebaabfc5","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/Beese_Mug_front_v2_388af291-436b-48e8-81f9-343fb8ae6599.jpg?v=1787307761"},{"product_id":"limbourg-brothers-tres-riches-heures-may-mug","title":"Limbourg Brothers: Très Riches Heures (May), 1416 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eLimbourg Brothers\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eTrès Riches Heures (May)\u003c\/em\u003e, 1416\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn May 1411, the courtiers of John, Duke of Berry, ride out in splendour. Clad in robes of spring green — the colour of hope and renewal — they wind through the Bois de Vincennes to the sound of trumpets, their horses garlanded, their laughter carrying across the vellum. Rising behind them in the distance, the towers of the Palais de la Cité — the royal palace on the Île de la Cité in Paris, seat of the French crown — gleam silver-white against a sky of lapis blue.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is \u003cem\u003eMois de Mai\u003c\/em\u003e from \u003cem\u003eLes Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry\u003c\/em\u003e, the most celebrated illuminated manuscript of the Middle Ages. Painted around 1412–1416 by the Flemish brothers Pol, Herman and Johan Limbourg — three prodigies who died young, their masterwork left unfinished — it depicts the twelve months in scenes of the finest refinement European painting had yet reached. No other medieval book matches its colour, its observation of the natural world, or the sheer joy it takes in human festivity.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe May folio is its most exuberant page: a world at its most alive, before plague and war and the long shadow of the fifteenth century closed in.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe design wraps the cavalcade around the mug. The fourth product image shows the complete original folio — with its gilded outer border and the zodiac calendar arch above, the sun's chariot passing through Gemini — so that what the mug takes and what it leaves are both visible.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFolio for May, \u003cem\u003eLes Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry\u003c\/em\u003e, Limbourg Brothers, c. 1412–1416. Musée Condé, Chantilly. Public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":57767477379403,"sku":"9db76b67-49f7-4fe7-86f7-8ce7fc7a1e2f","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/daf2f9b1-e301-4853-a206-f913cdc72070.webp?v=1783200209"},{"product_id":"hokusai-the-great-wave-off-kanagawa-art-mug","title":"Katsushika Hokusai: The Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1831 – Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eKatsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eUnder the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji\u003c\/em\u003e, ca. 1830-32\u003cbr\u003eWoodblock print, ink and colour on paper; published by Nishimuraya Yohachi, TO VERIFY\u003cbr\u003eThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929, inv. JP1847\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen Access, public domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree boats are caught under the wave. They are oshiokuri-bune, the fast rowing barges that ran live fish from the Izu and Bōsō peninsulas into the markets of Edo, and the men in them have stopped rowing: they lie flat along the hulls with their hands on the gunwales. Thirty men are in the boats; twenty-two of them are drawn. Above them the crest is breaking into claws. Behind, low in the trough, sits Mount Fuji, snow on its cone, small enough to be taken for another wave.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe blue is why the sheet looks the way it does. Prussian blue came in from Holland and reached Japan in quantity in 1829; within two years the Edo print trade had reorganised itself around it. It held its depth across a flat printed area, and it did not fade the way indigo faded. Hokusai used both here, the imported pigment against the old one.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe was seventy-one. The box at the upper left carries the series title, and beside it the signature: Hokusai aratame Iitsu hitsu — from the brush of Hokusai, who has changed his name to Iitsu. He used more than thirty names in his life and rarely began a new body of work without taking another. This is the first sheet of Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, published by Nishimuraya Yohachi. It sold well enough that ten more were added and the thirty-six became forty-six.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSomething like eight thousand impressions came off the blocks over the years, and the blocks wore down as they went; of the first edition, 113 sheets are known to survive. The one printed here is the Metropolitan Museum's, from the Havemeyer collection, left to the museum in 1929 — the key block still sharp in the foam, the gradation in the sky unbroken, the paper light.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mug carries the sheet whole, edge to edge: the cartouche and the signature at the left, all three boats, the claws of the crest, and Fuji in the gap. Nothing is cropped away.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fourth product image shows four details from the sheet: the title cartouche with the signature, the crest breaking, a boat under the wave, and Mount Fuji in the trough.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/hokusai-red-fuji-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eRed Fuji, c. 1831\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKatsushika Hokusai, Under the Wave off Kanagawa (Kanagawa oki nami ura), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, ca. 1830–32. Woodblock print, ink and colour on paper, published by Nishimuraya Yohachi. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, H. O. Havemeyer Collection, Bequest of Mrs. H. O. Havemeyer, 1929 (JP1847). Open Access, public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58235138900299,"sku":"90c3fab0-2920-4be2-9e8b-ba8b71b6b4ee","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/GreatWave_Mug_1_front_3000_a766dc74-0522-432b-bcba-baf027753521.jpg?v=1787515646"},{"product_id":"hokusai-red-fuji-porcelain-art-mug","title":"Katsushika Hokusai: Red Fuji, c. 1831 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eKatsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eSouth Wind, Clear Sky (Gaifu kaisei), known as Red Fuji, from Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji\u003c\/em\u003e, ca. 1830-32\u003cbr\u003eWoodblock print, ink and colour on paper, 24.4 x 35.6 cm\u003cbr\u003eThe Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1914, inv. JP9\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen Access, public domain\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mountain fills the sheet from edge to edge and almost nothing else happens. A red cone against a blue sky, a band of cloud lying flat across the middle, a dark forest at the foot. No people, no boats, no road. The snow is bare paper: the white gullies running down the cone are the places where no block touched the sheet.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Japanese title is Gaifū kaisei — south wind, clear sky. It names a condition, not a place. On a few mornings in late summer and early autumn, with the wind from the south and the air clear, Fuji turns red in the first light. The print is the record of a weather event that lasts a matter of minutes.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt belongs to Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, the series that also produced the Great Wave. The two are usually named in the same breath — the loudest sheet in the set and the quietest — and both were printed with the same imported Prussian blue, which had reached Japan in quantity only a year or two before.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe impression printed here came to the Metropolitan Museum in 1914. The sheet is clean and the paper light, and the sky runs unbroken from deep blue at the top to pale at the horizon. That gradation is not a separate block: the printer wiped the colour across the block by hand, once for every single sheet, which is why no two impressions of this print are quite the same.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mug carries the sheet whole, cropped just inside the paper margin, at the proportions of the original — 24.4 by 35.6 centimetres.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe fourth product image shows four details from the sheet: the title cartouche with the signature, the summit with the snow left in the gullies, the banded cloud, and the line where the forest meets the red of the cone.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/hokusai-the-great-wave-off-kanagawa-art-mug\"\u003eThe Great Wave off Kanagawa, c. 1831\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eKatsushika Hokusai, South Wind, Clear Sky (Gaifū kaisei), also known as Red Fuji, from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, ca. 1830–32. Woodblock print, ink and colour on paper, 24.4 × 35.6 cm. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1914 (JP9). Open Access, public domain.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58236379889995,"sku":"b388ef3f-5cba-4101-95f2-18e3f9fa4d9b","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/RedFuji_Mug_1_front_3000_c6d6c64d-652a-438f-8fd8-12ed55741e0e.jpg?v=1787550479"},{"product_id":"william-morris-strawberry-thief-1883-porcelain-art-mug","title":"William Morris: Strawberry Thief, 1883 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWilliam Morris (1834-1896)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eStrawberry Thief\u003c\/em\u003e, design registered 1883; this length c. 1936, Merton Abbey\u003cbr\u003eIndigo-discharged cotton, plain weave, block printed, 88.2 x 99 cm\u003cbr\u003eThe Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm, inv. 1937.696\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain (CC0)\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam Morris registered the design for \u003cem\u003eStrawberry Thief\u003c\/em\u003e in 1883. It came out of the kitchen garden at Kelmscott Manor, where song thrushes worked their way under the nets and carried off the fruit. Two birds face each other across a stem of acanthus with a strawberry between them; behind them an indigo ground carries oak leaves, dog-roses and the small four-petalled flowers Morris had studied in mediaeval herbals.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt was the most difficult thing his firm had yet attempted. To keep a true indigo ground and still print colour over it, Morris had to master the indigo-discharge process: the cotton was dyed blue in the vat, the pattern bleached back out of it, and the cleared areas then printed by hand from wood blocks. He worked at it for years, and the finished pattern carries more colours than any other of his printed textiles. This length was block-printed at Merton Abbey around 1936, from the original blocks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mug carries the pattern as a frieze, at roughly a quarter of life size. The section follows the detail the museum itself publishes of this length: the pair of thrushes with the strawberry between them, set at the centre of the front so that neither bird is cut, and the acanthus stem carrying the eye on around the cup.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/william-morris-tulip-1875-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eTulip, 1875\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/william-morris-kennet-1883-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eKennet, 1883\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam Morris, \u003cem\u003eStrawberry Thief\u003c\/em\u003e, design registered 1883; indigo-discharged cotton, plain weave, block printed, c. 1936, Merton Abbey. 88.2 × 99 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm, 1937.696. Public domain (CC0).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58251761221963,"sku":"7da3b549-183e-43ea-a9c2-67b977816181","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/c1e0118e-d091-4f50-88aa-58c098fca6eb.webp?v=1787678180"},{"product_id":"william-morris-kennet-1883-porcelain-art-mug","title":"William Morris: Kennet, 1883 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eWilliam Morris (1834-1896)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eKennet\u003c\/em\u003e, designed 1883; this length c. 1920\u003cbr\u003ePlain weave cotton, printed, 90.2 x 97.8 cm\u003cbr\u003eThe Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm, inv. 1937.698\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003ePublic domain (CC0)\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eMorris designed \u003cem\u003eKennet\u003c\/em\u003e in 1883 and named it, like the other chintzes of those years, after a river that runs into the Thames. He had moved his printworks to Merton Abbey on the Wandle in 1881, and it was the water there that let him dye with indigo and wash the printed cloth properly. The rivers gave the patterns their names because the rivers made the patterns possible. \u003cem\u003eKennet\u003c\/em\u003e is the one that looks most like water: the stems sway on a long diagonal and the leaves lie over as weed lies in a current.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe pattern carries two kinds of flower. One is a small open rosette seen straight on. The other is large, furled and seen from the side — and it is not an English flower at all. It is the pomegranate of Italian cut velvet, the motif Morris had studied at the South Kensington Museum, now the Victoria and Albert; the museum record for this length names those velvets as the source of his strongly diagonal patterns. At the centre of a design named after an English chalk stream sits a Mediterranean flower brought home from a museum case.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mug carries the pattern as a frieze, at roughly a quarter of life size, set so that one whole pomegranate bloom stands uncut at the centre of the front, its stem sweeping away to either side. A flower seen straight on flattens as the cylinder turns; one seen in profile does not, and it leads the eye around the cup.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/william-morris-strawberry-thief-1883-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eStrawberry Thief, 1883\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/william-morris-tulip-1875-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eTulip, 1875\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWilliam Morris, \u003cem\u003eKennet\u003c\/em\u003e, designed 1883; plain weave cotton, printed; this length c. 1920. 90.2 × 97.8 cm. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mrs. Henry Chisholm, 1937.698. Public domain (CC0).\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58252212797771,"sku":"68d3f09a-d723-4f0d-b9c6-1ab353f12905","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/ec41937d-2a8e-4fcf-8ef3-c2390d4e3fa9.webp?v=1787681652"},{"product_id":"edvard-munch-starry-night","title":"Edvard Munch: Starry Night, 1893 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eEdvard Munch\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eStarry Night\u003c\/em\u003e, 1893\u003cbr\u003eoil on canvas\u003cbr\u003eJ. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 84\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen-access image released by the museum under CC0\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the summer of 1893 Edvard Munch was painting at Åsgårdstrand, the small beach resort south of Oslo where he spent his summers from the 1880s onward. \u003cem\u003eStarry Night\u003c\/em\u003e is that coastline after dark. An abstract mound at the right is a clump of trees; a white fence runs diagonally in front of it; the shoreline is drawn with a single undulating line that continues into the branches. Stars reflect in the water, and a flash of light shines in the trees.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe picture was painted in the same year as the first version of \u003cem\u003eThe Scream\u003c\/em\u003e, and it shows the other half of the same ambition. Munch was after the emotion the night calls up rather than its picturesque qualities, and the blue carries it. The vaguely defined shape on the fence may be the shadow of two lovers — a motif that recurs throughout his work. Some passages are laid on thickly, others left almost bare so that the lighter parts of the sky come through the weave.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEdvard Munch, Starry Night, 1893, oil on canvas. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 84.PA.681. Open-access image released by the museum under CC0.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Fine Porcelain — 10 oz","offer_id":58302705893707,"sku":"362995e9-5ef8-4fa0-98ac-108977661680","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/StarryNight_Mug_front.jpg?v=1788083808"},{"product_id":"vincent-van-gogh-irises-detail-1889-porcelain-art-mug","title":"Vincent van Gogh: Irises (Detail), 1889 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eVincent van Gogh (1853-1890)\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eIrises\u003c\/em\u003e, 1889\u003cbr\u003eOil on canvas, 74.3 x 94.3 cm\u003cbr\u003eThe J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, inv. 90.PA.20\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eOpen-access image released by the museum\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe white iris stands alone. Van Gogh set it just left of centre, one pale flower in a bed of blue, turned away from the rest. Every account of the painting comes back to it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eHe painted \u003cem\u003eIrises\u003c\/em\u003e in May 1889, in his first week at the asylum of Saint-Paul-de-Mausole outside Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, working in the walled garden before he was allowed beyond it. There is no drawing underneath: he began straight onto the canvas with the brush, and the leaves were laid in first, cutting across everything that came after.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe colour is argued rather than described. Blue against the orange marigolds behind, and between them a green that belongs to neither — the lesson he had taken from Japanese prints, which he had been collecting and copying for two years. The blue has shifted since 1889: the flowers were painted a warmer violet, and the red lake pigment in them has faded.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis mug carries a detail, not the whole canvas: the white iris, the marigolds above it, and the blue flowers closing in from both sides. The complete painting is shown in the last product image. The printable field on a mug is about nine centimetres high; a canvas almost a metre wide would shrink to a stamp on it, so the honest way to put this picture on a mug is to take a part of it that Van Gogh composed as a whole.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/van-gogh-sunflowers-1887-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eSunflowers, 1887\u003c\/a\u003e · \u003ca href=\"\/products\/van-gogh-the-bedroom-1889\"\u003eThe Bedroom, 1889\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eVincent van Gogh, \u003cem\u003eIrises\u003c\/em\u003e, 1889. Oil on canvas, 74.3 × 94.3 cm. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 90.PA.20. Open-access image released by the museum.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58368361464139,"sku":"a2a97614-05b9-43b3-953c-5c4b8eae3785","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/27a35c29-7269-4540-acc9-d6fdfed00975.webp?v=1789026125"},{"product_id":"johannes-vermeer-girl-with-a-pearl-earring-c-1665-porcelain-art-mug","title":"Johannes Vermeer: Girl with a Pearl Earring, c. 1665 – Porcelain Art Mug","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"tz-label\" style=\"border-top:1px solid currentColor;border-bottom:1px solid currentColor;padding:0.9em 0;margin:0 0 1.4em;\"\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.72em;letter-spacing:0.16em;text-transform:uppercase;opacity:0.65;margin-bottom:0.5em;\"\u003eThe work on this mug\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"line-height:1.55;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eJohannes Vermeer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cem\u003eGirl with a Pearl Earring\u003c\/em\u003e, c. 1665\u003cbr\u003eOil on canvas, 44.5 × 39 cm\u003cbr\u003eMauritshuis, The Hague, inv. 670\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv style=\"font-size:0.8em;opacity:0.7;margin-top:0.6em;\"\u003eThe museum publishes this image as public domain through Europeana\u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eShe is turning towards you, and the turn is the whole picture. The head is caught mid-movement, the mouth just open, the eyes already fixed — Vermeer painted the instant before someone speaks.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt is not a portrait. It is a \u003cem\u003etronie\u003c\/em\u003e, a study of a type rather than a person: an anonymous head in imagined dress, the kind of picture a seventeenth-century painter made to show what he could do. Nobody knows who sat for it, or whether anyone sat at all.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe pearl is the demonstration. Look closely and there is no pearl there — two strokes of white lead, one soft and broad for the reflected light of the collar, one sharp on the upper edge, over a ground so thin the canvas shows through. It reads as a pearl only at a distance, which is precisely the trick.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRecent examination has changed the background. What looks like empty black was once a green curtain, painted in a glaze of indigo and weld that has faded and darkened over three and a half centuries. The girl was never floating in the dark; she stood in a room.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mug carries the whole painting, at the proportions of the canvas, not a detail.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-material\"\u003eFine porcelain, 10 oz — 104 mm high, 75 mm across the base. The image runs around the body; handle and rim stay white. Dishwasher and microwave safe.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp class=\"tz-series\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom the same series:\u003c\/strong\u003e \u003ca href=\"\/products\/vermeer-the-milkmaid-porcelain-art-mug\"\u003eThe Milkmaid, c. 1660\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJohannes Vermeer, \u003cem\u003eGirl with a Pearl Earring\u003c\/em\u003e, c. 1665. Oil on canvas, 44.5 × 39 cm. Mauritshuis, The Hague, inv. 670. The museum publishes this image as public domain through Europeana.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eSelected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Tazzarte","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":58368986186059,"sku":"1df5d52a-2a0b-45ed-976f-0235a59e7908","price":34.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0816\/8475\/8859\/files\/2c429153-deb5-48b8-8e76-10461408c7b4.webp?v=1789021195"}],"url":"https:\/\/tazzarte.com\/collections\/colour-blue-water.oembed?page=2","provider":"Tazzarte","version":"1.0","type":"link"}