In 1929, well-known manufacturers of dinnerware Bernardaud & Cie.

Shango—the Yoruba god of thunder, giver of children, and "patron saint" of twins—once lived among men as a brilliant but capricious military general who became the fourth king (alafin) of the ancient Oyo Yoruba empire. He had a volatile temper, and when he ranted, fire issued from his mouth.

Appliqué is a technique of decorating by adding materials to a cloth's surface. The artist cuts out pieces of cloth of different colors, textures, and shapes and then stitches them onto the foundation cloth.

The high modernist taste for streamlined shapes and spartan decoration is embodied in Clarice Cliff's designs of the 1930s. Her direct inspiration came from the work of French designer Jean Tetard, from whom Cliff took the idea for the very successful Stamford shape around 1930.

Square plates became a fashionable alternative to the more conventional round shape early in the 1930s, as designers sought to express a new vocabulary of geometrical forms inspired by the Machine Age.

Square plates became a fashionable alternative to the more conventional round shape early in the 1930s, as designers sought to express a new vocabulary of geometrical forms inspired by the Machine Age.

The high modernist taste for streamlined shapes and spartan decoration was embodied in Clarice Cliff's designs of the 1930s. Her direct inspiration came from the work of French designer Jean Tetard, from whom Cliff took the idea for the very successful Stamford shape around 1930.

Square plates became a fashionable alternative to the more conventional round shape early in the 1930s, as designers sought to express a new vocabulary of geometrical forms inspired by the Machine Age.

Square plates became a fashionable alternative to the more conventional round shape early in the 1930s, as designers sought to express a new vocabulary of geometrical forms inspired by the Machine Age.