Blue paste paper 1700 - 1800

This "Blue paste paper" was made by an anonymous artist, and today it resides in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The sheet pulses with a deep blue, its texture a dance of light and shadow. Blue, the colour of the sky and the sea, holds a complex symbolism across cultures. Think of the Virgin Mary, often cloaked in blue, representing purity and divinity. The way the colour stains and seeps into the paper fibres reminds me of ancient frescoes, where pigments embedded within the plaster narrate stories across centuries. The marbling effect, achieved through paste, evokes the cosmic swirls of nebulae, mirroring humanity's eternal fascination with the heavens. This humble sheet, seemingly simple, resonates with the echoes of profound cultural meanings, stirring something deep within our collective memory.