Trompe l'oeil in Nature....

I attended the annual gem and mineral show this weekend to pick up a few needed items. Remember? I posted on this show last year .

I am still fascinated with the "fake food" tables! There is always a large display of tables set with food, except everything you see is a mineral or gemstone! Nature playing tricks with it's own trompe l'oeil. 

The meat, breads, vegetables and desserts are all works of nature in gem and mineral form. Even the candles are spar calcite!

What better place can you get detailed photos of malachite for future studies?

This one was spectacular. Alternating dark and light bands of green nodules with small amounts of blue azurite , often found forming together near copper deposits.

Malachite has been used for centuries in pigments, makeup and jewelry including Fabergé eggs.

Tony Duquette used malachite often as accents in his decorating with walls  or in textiles as pillows or tablecloths. If you are as fascinated with malachite, I hope you enjoy these reference photos. 

Malachite!...I'm green with envy!

Hermitage  St. Petersburg

How much more classic can you get than malachite in decorating?

  Tony Duquette Inc., makes this fabulously decadent malachite fabric printed on cotton(and offers other precious mineral interpretations) ....

 Tony Duquette collection Malachite chair

... this is also the fabric used for the malachite chair.

Cole-and-Son offers this malachite wallpaper for interiors.

Dawnridge-Duquette photo

Tony Duquette understood the power of malachite in interior settings mixing with other classic elements.

Brimfield/Brimfield 

This decorative piece by Brimfield and Brimfield adds  just a touch of malachite to give any room richness.

Dawnridge-Duquette photo

The deep green mineral has been mimicked in design for decades. This was photographed at Dawnridge and also features a screen with Duquette fabrics through Jim Thompson. As you can see, it packs a large punch!

The Grand Canal

This photo is from a private residence on the grand canal in Venice...Zuber wallpaper combined with faux malachite pilasters and trim....perfection!

The Parties are over....it's time for a bath!

(Rome-Vatican)

Ok, we can't all be Nero....but what better way to end a decade than a nice long bath in such a seductive piece of marble!

(MGM Stone Ltd)

Bathtubs are a place we can decompress and solve the world's problems in a sea of bubbles.

...and if I can't have Nero's tub, this malachite one will do nicely.......

There are two types of people....those that shower and those that bathe...

(World of Interiors-photography James Mortimer)

I am a bather.....soaking my tired muscles in a scented tub with some good music is almost a ritual..

This Roman tub would really look good in my bathroom.....hmmmm,,...I am a Leo as well!

The Officina Profumo Farmaceutica in Florence, Italy is synonymous with pampering of the body.

Hammans  are another form of relaxation and pampering of the body.

It is  alleged that Napoleon signed over the Louisiana purchase to the United States from his bathtub.

Whatever your style, take time to usher in 2010 with a bath!