#real items

[weirdpngs]

[abybweisse]

Ch197, Interesting cooking spatula/scraping paddle

I was wondering if this was just a single slot spatula (not common these days) or something slightly anachronistic... like a candy thermometer (with the glass tube in the slot).

But it's just the former. Here're a couple examples of vintage designs by Avon and Foley. Other brands made them, too, like Tupperware, but most are short, wide, and bent.

What Oliver uses is even older, of course, since nylon wasn't around quite yet. Also, his is flat, probably wooden, and has a metal or possibly leather loop going through the handle for hanging.

Some brands make something similar now, for stirring and scraping. This silicone/nylon Betty Crocker one even has a flat design.

It's still just too short, too wide, and not made of materials available back then. I know the series has a bunch of anachronistic things, but a spatula at the orphanage shouldn't be one of them. 😆

It might actually be a Japanese (or at least Asian) style that's probably been in use for a very long time without much change over the past hundred years or longer. So, it would be immediately recognizable to local readers.

I did finally see these Japanese spatulas with the right shape, but the single slotted ones are apparently not too common. I have not found one just like it quite yet, but I'll keep looking.

[abybweisse]

Ch138, The oldest outfit

Sebastian offers to change his appearance, and his face and figure don’t change, but his clothes do. The three options given are the Victorian butler, the 18th century outfit (probably from Austria), and what appears to be early Italian Renaissance.

I was asked about it on this post, so I did more research, since I hadn’t done too much on that one.

I think it’s later 15th century Italian Renaissance (which is still early Renaissance), because of several features. Later Renaissance clothes for both men and women were also bigger/bulkier, using more fabric for pretty much everything. And I made a thing:

What we don’t see is the front of the bottom half of this outfit, and that might be because of what’s allowed and not allowed in GFantasy. I don’t know their rules for publication, but the outfit would have included hose, like tight leggings, but they are in two separate parts and connected by other pieces… including a codpiece, which would be quite noticeable just below the short doublet (or between peplums at the base of the doublet). He’s also wearing short, paned (has that “slash and puff” feature again) breeches (over the hose), and the codpiece would still be visible between them. I won’t include images of codpieces in this post, but here are a couple articles on it, and they do have images. 15th century codpieces were not as flashy as they later became, but the fashion trend died out by 1600.

Based on the overall appearance of the outfit, I’d say it’s still meant to represent the male servant of a noble. Not himself a peasant nor anyone among the nobility.

EDIT: A lot of discussion about Sebastian’s personality in the comments!

[abybweisse]

Ch111, Paragon fortune-telling cup

In ch111, Blavat is clearly using a “fortune-telling” cup based off a popular design by Paragon. It’s rare now but comes in a few color combinations… mostly pastels… with gold trim.

The difference that Yana-san has created between the real pattern and the one Blavat has is seen when you look down into his cup.

She has combined china patterns… and added stylized zodiac signs from a source I don’t recognize. But below the zodiac signs there’re these tips of what must be triangles, so I think she’s also using something like this Aynsley “Nelros” cup.

But she’s replaced those symbols (14 of them) with the 12 zodiac signs, then has a triangular section coming down between each zodiac. The rest of the design, farther down, might be essentially the same as this. A star with a broken circle and planetary signs. Might even have the ship anchor ⚓️ in the center. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Paragon and Aynsley are well known English porcelain makers, but they didn’t really make these until at least 1900. So… Blavat is using a teacup that doesn’t quite exist… and ones similar to it didn’t exist until at least a decade later.

[abybweisse]

Ch179, The still-room

The meaning has changed over the centuries. It used to be for making everything from distilled alcoholic beverages to jams and jellies to medicines to makeup products to soaps. And it used to solely be the domain of the House Keeper. These are traditionally important and time-consuming things to do, so they were entrusted to the highest (female) member of the staff. Or to the lady of the house, if she ran her own household.

By the Victorian era, it was mostly for storing jams and jellies, cakes, tea, and coffee… but also sometimes still used for making wine, brewing beer, or distilling liqueurs. Phantomhive Manor apparently also keeps the fancy tableware for guests here. By then, keeping a still-room was mostly relegated to the duties of a still-room maid, but some households might have kept it as the domain of the House Keeper, particularly if there wasn’t a large staff.

And when I said “kitchens” (plural) in an earlier post, I should have clarified that a manor like this wouldn’t have a single kitchen with all the necessary things in it. They really were typically split into several rooms, each with a specific purpose, and were collectively called “the kitchens”.

It’s cool that Sebastian says the still-room is stocked with stuff to “entertain special guests”, since no one eavesdropping would find that wording odd at all. Of course, you wouldn’t invite those guests to the still-room, but you would typically use nicer dishes to set the table upstairs… and you would offer them the finest preserves, cakes, and beverages you’ve got. Since the Phantomhives are supposedly known for their hospitality, anyone would indeed expect their still-room to be well-stocked.

[abybweisse]

Ch179, Matchbox or Vesta box

Anyone recognize the brand on this? 😆

[abybweisse]

Ch174 (pt 4), The joker isn’t joking now... is he?

Lau would like to have stayed longer at the sanatorium, since it offers fresh air and relaxation, but he’s also keen to get the assignment completed. Next chapter, he could act like his usual self (the Jester archetype) and diffuse the situation by saying they can take their time in destroying the place, but I doubt he will... this time. His behavior now is more like when he and Ran-Mao confronted Mina and Harold West at the end of the curry arc. I think this is his deadly serious side... the one that got him where he is in Qīng Bāng....

Bonus: I wanted to note his neckwear, since it’s very specific. It’s either the “Gentleman’s Satin Flat Scarf” or the “Gentlemen’s Satin Puff Scarf”. There might be an ever-so-slight puff to it, so I think it’s actually the “puff” one!

[abybweisse]

Ch163, The dishes, decor, and tea

I will have to look around to see if I can make proper matches, but I’ll just go ahead and post now. Then I’ll reblog if/when I find them.

There are a pair of these decorative urns or amphorae on the windowsill.

Then we have this dainty-looking teacup and saucer, one of the silver teapots that shows up from time to time, and Harrods’ Oolong.