A holy grail for Sjöberg has been to find porcelain that belonged to the Gyllenkroks, the original residents of Regnaholm. He recalls meeting a direct descendant of the family decades ago, an elderly woman who described for him the family pattern: a carnation surrounded by insects and a butterfly. He then searched for pieces in antiques shops, discovering the carnation plates and plenty of similar items. At Antik West, in the southern Swedish city of Göteborg, he also found three different services featuring the Gyllenkrok family crest.

Now that he’s almost finished with his book, Sjöberg has stopped collecting Chinese porcelain. “I’m done with that now,” he says, explaining that his mania for it had become too costly. A few moments later, though, he adds, “On the other hand, if you eat less and don’t take taxis or expensive vacations, you could buy more mended Chinese porcelain.” 

"Serving History" originally appeared in the January 2008 issue of Art+Auction. For a complete list of articles from this issue available on ARTINFO, see Art+Auction's January 2008 Table of Contents.