{ Gold Bird and Flowers Stemmed Glass }

I was happily wandering around Zara Home when I chanced upon this Gold Parrot Stemmed Wine Glass.

Much as I love Zara Home I have a few issues with the description of this glass. The “parrot” looks more like some kind of pheasant and though it is a stemmed glass its really not the best kind of stem for any kind of wine. This wouldn’t matter as much at a sit down meal but probably would for cocktail hour, when people spend more time holding their glasses.

So even though Zara Home’s description makes it sound like pirate swag, I’ll probably think of it as a chinoiserie stemmed water glass. The gold foil looks like gold, bronze, brass or aged silver according to the angle the light hits it. The picture is of a pheasant against a background of peonies and paulownia - a common subject in traditional Japanese and Chinese art.

Now, this glass is very much my taste because its clear glass, stemmed, has a motif in gold rather than a pattern or full colour picture and because of the motif itself. Even so, I did wonder if the motif, in particular, would restrict how I could use it.

After some though I decided that in any case it would always work with a plain white setting and that if one thinks of it in looser terms as just a glass with 'gold' and 'a bird' and 'flowers' on it, it could still be used in a variety of settings. I tried out a couple of ideas below.

This first one is a Chinese-inspired setting.

The use of other heavy golds and decorative shapes and elements helps bring out the glass’ ornamental side - both in terms of motif and colour but also in the shape. This layout illustrates what can be done with just shape and colour. The use of black is unusual in traditional western table settings and the red plate could be replaced by a white one and the red carried through in placemats or a table runner without the overall look losing its impact.

 

This next one is a sort of weekend in the country theme.

 

Again the dark colours give it the look some formality which is broken by the gold playing with brass and silver rather than more gold. Strong lines, clean shapes and leather accents help bring the country feel. The feather theme running through a few items ties in the glass and the fighting rooster figures underline the impact and role of a strong centerpiece.

This last one is a lighter take on the chinoiserie theme, more for everyday use, perhaps as a tea time setting.

Here the glass’s motif is echoed in the accent plate and its gold plays off the colour of either natural or gilded bamboo. This combined with all the white and simple shapes gives the whole look a light airy feel. Consider shapes: If you don’t have a ginger jar or temple jar you can use an apothecary jar instead. And any of these with their lids off can be used as vases.