Hello folks. For the most part, I’m assuming the word “Pratchett” caught your eye and dragged you into this thread like one of Death’s fishing flys.
I’m rereading Interesting Times, and there’s a bit that seems to be making a joke about a piece of art, but I really have no idea what it is. It’s at the part while Rincewind is being chased through the palace, and knocks over a man painting a plate in a garden (page 194 in the Harper Prism hardback, if you’re interested):
Now, I’m pretty sure that this a reference to an existing work of art, such as whenever Leonard draws a picture people talk about how the smiles are a bit odd. I just can’t figure out which work it is, and I feel that if I knew, the joke would be a bit funnier. I’ve tried to look myself, but “blue + asian + plate” in Google gives, well, a google of answers. Can anyone help me out?
It probably refers to the classic “willow” pattern made famous on china plates by Spode. I’m not sure if it references a single work, or is more of a generalization of the series.
There’s an almost archetypal design for the kind of “Chinese” plates that little old ladies display on their sideboards called Blue Willow pattern. A woman crossing a Chinese bridge over a stream followed closely by a man, and both of them being chased by another man. All in a kind of delft blue color.
According to The annotated Pratchett file, the first interpretations are correct: "Three Solid Frogs is inventing the Willow Pattern Plate, the well-known blue oriental picture of a maiden standing on a bridge. "
That’s what I get for not refreshing before submitting.