A portrait in yellow

The yellow car

When asked what was the difference between a carefully hand-made piece of porcelain for use and a piece of porcelain for decoration or for display as a work of art the man replied: ‘There is no difference.‘

One thing that the English used to do well was to build motor cars that were both objects for use and objects of charm or of beauty. Art and use were happily conjoined.

Just the other day someone placed such an object in cheerful yellow – as if it were a portrait – in the street outside my house. I (and a number of passers-by) stopped and smiled.