The Epergne
Looking back at my childhood I remember that my mother and
grandmother both had a gift for arranging flowers and that during the course of the year there would be carefully composed arrangements made up of flowers, buds, rosehips, branches, teasels, catkins, old man's beard and more which, in my busy life as a child, quietly brought the different seasons into the house. There were some taboos too such as hawthorn which was seen as very unlucky to bring indoors (except on May Day), just as mistletoe was forbidden in church (both due to their associations with paganism and fertility rites). I have over time, come to appreciate that there is nothing quite
like these beautiful arrangements in the house for bringing the outdoors 'in' and uplifting the spirits.
I had never shown any inclination towards flower arranging myself as a child so was alarmed when my mother entered me for the ‘Arrangement in an Egg Cup’ and ‘Vegetable Animal’ categories at the Bristol Flower Show back in 1975 when I was 12. Early in the morning I nervously arrived at one of the display tents to assemble my arrangement of buttercups and daisies in my humble breakfast egg cup, only to be confronted by rows and rows of the most exquisite and tiny flower arrangements I had ever seen, it was like fairy land and I was totally out of my league. I did however come first in the Vegetable Animal category and still have my trophy to prove it!
I had never shown any inclination towards flower arranging myself as a child so was alarmed when my mother entered me for the ‘Arrangement in an Egg Cup’ and ‘Vegetable Animal’ categories at the Bristol Flower Show back in 1975 when I was 12. Early in the morning I nervously arrived at one of the display tents to assemble my arrangement of buttercups and daisies in my humble breakfast egg cup, only to be confronted by rows and rows of the most exquisite and tiny flower arrangements I had ever seen, it was like fairy land and I was totally out of my league. I did however come first in the Vegetable Animal category and still have my trophy to prove it!
I still love to see plants and flowers in a room. This lovely Victorian/Edwardian epergne was an internet buy
a couple of years ago and consists of 4 beautiful cut glass flower holders, surrounding
a 5th larger version in the centre. They are set in an exquisitely pretty
silver-plated frame decorated with swags and bows and held up on scrolled feet.
Although lovely on its own on the dining room table, it would lend itself very well to a wedding breakfast with each of the holders taking
the posies of the bride and her bridesmaids. For the benefit of this image I have filled it with
a selection of peonies, roses and sweet peas in a gentle palette of creamy
whites, various shades of pink and a touch of green, the dash of yellow from the rose stamens adds an accent colour which rescues the arrangement from being too 'uniform' – in this instance they are silk flowers I found about the house.
Epergnes make wonderful table centrepieces for the period home
and especially for those occasions when you want to set the dining table off to
dramatic effect. Many have delicate silver or glass trumpet shape
flower holders and some also hold fruit, they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. Epergnes can often
be seen displayed on tables, shelves and in display cabinets devoid of flowers
and showing off instead their unusual shape and fine craftsmanship. However
they are undoubtedly at their best when used for their true purpose of creating
amazing floral displays, which can be achieved with relative ease regardless of
one’s abilities in flower arranging.
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