Rule Britannia! at the Gardiner Museum

This has been an event filled year for Great Britain.

First, there was the pomp and pageantry of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, followed by the rush of excitement surrounding the Olympic Games in London.

  With all things British on our minds, Rule Britannia!, on now at our MAP partner, the Gardiner Museum, celebrates the union of artistry and craft that symbolises and captures the social history, ingenuity, aspirations and sensibilities of one of the world’s greatest empires.  

For me, English porcelain brings to mind an air of refinement and gentility or perhaps pretentions if you are a fan of the British comedy, Keeping Up Appearances ("Royal Doulton, with the hand painted periwinkles").

If you have not had the pleasure of watching Hyacinth Bucket (she pronounces it as 'bouquet'), be prepared for hilarity as you watch the misadventures of an English matron who henpecks her husband and puts on airs to disguise her rather lower class origins.