Poetics of Patina

Patina permeates my posts. Also wabi-sabi, unabashed wear, rust, oxidation, perfect imperfection, and all manner of unadulterated antique luster. Rosslyn is two centuries old, and her past enriches her present. Her backstory is her future. Perhaps then I’m long overdue for a meditation on the poetics of patina.

This afternoon I’ll start to remedy that oversight with a few mostly visual points of reference to help illustrate my patina pleasure.

This first photograph above, snapped in the morning room some years ago where a double drop-leaf table (inherited from my parents’ Chicago home) occupied the location now occupied by Ron Bauer’s handsome harvest table.

Look at the living memories inscribed into that tabletop. Time, stories, laughter, tears. So many lives lived around this table! Such texture and storytelling.

And the silver napkin ring, infrequently if ever polished — part of an unmatched pair of antiques collected and gifted by my cousin, Lucy — begs to be lifted from the table, studied, passed hand-to-hand, finger-to-finger. Oxidized silver, dark an moody. Fingerprinted. Dented. I’ll try to find the amusing note received with the napkin rings. It’s almost as delightful as the antiques themselves!

The word patina derives from the Italian patinato mean ‘a shallow layer of deposit on the surface.’ Now used to refer to any signs of ageing of an antique, whether it be fading, darkening, or oxidising, patination occurs on almost any material. (Source: Homes & Antiques)

This second photo shows one of three sconces outside Rosslyn’s boathouse. That verdigris oxidation is the quintessential example of patina. The exterior lakeside location for these brass lights ensures their perennially perfect finish. The copper and brass pendant light above our morning room table on the other hand is protected from the elements, significantly slowing the process of oxidation. Weekly dusting and occasional polishing have slowed the light’s subtle aging. But a close look still reveals darkening at all hard-to-reach nooks and crannies. Time’s telltale tempering of newness…

While a poetics of patina might in time become a more technical articulation, this first foray feels more comfortable offering examples for you to contemplate. And a small piece of poetry.

Garden Hose Haiku
A coiled garden hose,
a verdigris copper pot,
sunset puddling…

This verdigris patinated copper pot concealing a coiled garden hose, warmed by a splash of setting sun offered itself up as a haiku. It was not my place to question or resist. (Source: Garden Hose Haiku)

Toward a poetics of patina, paused for now…