Venetian Night Coffee Cup

Cup
Height: 5.3cm
Breadth:7.7cm (including handle)
Circumference: 9cm (around the whole cup)

Saucer
Height: 1cm
Length: 11.2cm

Object Domicile

Personal home

Object Origin

Stafford Street, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, England Circa 1940

This Venetian Night coffee cup was manufactured by Melba Bone Co Ltd, and would probably have been made as part of a coffee set.

‘Venetian Night’. The name transports me to the magical city of Venice, on an ancient balcony overlooking the canal.

It is a warm summer evening, 9pm, and the sun has only just set. The moon’s reflection slowly appears on the calm water below, and on a cooler breeze, the aroma of an espresso wafts into the night air. I can feel the steam coming off my little coffee cup as I lift it closer to my lips for a sip. As I draw it closer, the moonlight allows for just enough light to illuminate the golden rim.

I have now really experienced a Venentian Night, on this beautiful warm evening.

Antique objects have always fascinated me. They spark my imagination, as I begin to wonder who owned them before, and where they lived. I wonder how old the object is, when it was made, and how it got to the place where I witnessed it.

This imagination of the antique reminds me of my childhood – filled with fairies, magic, and faraway lands – all, or most, of which was created in my mind. The fairy-lit mosquito net under which I slept housed my dreams, and became a safe space of comfort, where I could dream and think about anything. As I have grown older, I have lost touch with my grand imagination; be it of things small or large.

When I come into contact with second-hand objects, my imagination seems to come alive again. I create romantic ideas about the home in which I would love to live in one day, filled with all these ‘misplaced’ objects that have histories of their own. They become objects I imagine would live within that safe space, for an older self.

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