Matrinah is named for Matrinah Xaba, one of the Ardmore designers, and it is among the more classical things the studio has produced. The subject is a wall of plates: ornamental platters and dishes arranged as a collection would be arranged, each painted with birds and animals and finished with a scalloped edge.
The composition works on two levels, and this is the detail that repays attention. In front are the plates, fully drawn and closely patterned. Behind them, ghosted into the chalky ground, sits the silhouette of the Khulu vase, so the design has a background that is itself a design. The result is depth without shadow, and a wall that changes according to how hard it is looked at.
At a 61 cm straight repeat on a 0.52 m roll the plates are large enough to read individually. That makes it a good design for a room where people sit close to the walls, a dining room above all, where the conceit of hanging plates is entirely at home. It also does well in a small study or a back hall, and asks for plain fabrics around it. Lamplight helps, since the ghosted vase in the ground only comes forward when the light is low and raking.
