We all called her “Mother” but her given name was Isabel Cremata (also called Belica.) As my great-aunt told it, she was given this lovely Imperial Nippon hand-painted vase circa 1925 by a young physician admirer. “I returned neither his love…nor his vase” she quipped a good 60 years later to me. I always loved its graceful shape and colors, and it was among the treasures I received from that beautiful spirit, who held on so dearly to life well into her 90’s (wearing red lipstick no less).