Mother of All Plateracks

A monumental plate rack provided open storage in a historical Swedish kitchen.

I  admit to a definite obsession with 18th century architecture and furniture in Sweden, where so much is preserved. This monumental plate rack, in the Porcelain kitchen at Thureholm Castle in Trosa, Sweden, is part of a residence completed in 1747 and still in private hands. Thureholm doesn’t seem to be widely known — this photo is of its most famous room. However, the grand mural memorializes the fashion of its time for Chinese cobalt and white porcelain and Chinese decorative themes. Here, these are elegantly mixed with local Swedish faux-marble painted furniture, rough-hewn stone floors and racks and brackets to display precious blue-and-white china from floor to ceiling. Modern porcelain dishware, as we know it, originated in China, hence the name. Porcelain production began in Europe only after the introduction of kaolin clay to Germany at the Meissen factory, although more fragile blue and white Delft ware had long been made in Holland. This room inspired my hunt for a blue dish dresser with this particular style of open plate rack (My Kitchen Hutch Search and Redo Saga). I had hoped the cabinet would at least have a faux-marble top, though that was not to be. I console myself by thinking that a modern kitchen requires adaptations since it won’t function well as a museum.

(Source: WOI)

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