These unique paper cocktail napkins are available in packs of twenty-four and 100.

The first known example of marbled (or marbleized) paper dates to tenth-century Japan. From there, although the timeline and pathways are far from definite, the artform traveled to China, and then on to Europe during the Renaissance. There, marbled paper decorated book covers, endpapers, and book edges. These are the uses we are most familiar with today. In the fifteenth century, related methods were practiced in Turkey, where they were known as Ebrû, and in Persian countries, known as Abri. Fittingly, for a form of evanescent patterns, Ebrû translates into “the art of the clouds” (“cloud” is ebr in Turkish and abri in Persian).

According to the American Antiquarian Society, “the art still seems somewhat like sorcery. A marbler throws chemicals and pigments into a bath, agitates and stirs the concoction with brushes and rakes, then places a piece of paper on the surface, which is promptly removed to reveal a stunning pattern on one side—marbling magic! Nineteenth-century observers frequently commented on the mystical qualities of the craft, which was only practiced by a relatively small number of artisans.”

The marbled patterns on these high-quality paper napkins are taken from the following original sources: 

1. Maroon: Marbled paper from inside front cover of The Snakes of Australia, an Illustrated Catalogue (1869) by Thomas Richards, Government Printmaster.
2. Red: Marbled paper from a cover (library binding, likely) of Ferns: British and Exotic, Vol. 3 (1864 reprint) by Edward Joseph Lowe.
3. Blue: Marbled paper book cover from Letters of Joseph Jones of Virginia (1777-1787) by Joseph Jones and Worthington C. Ford, United States Department of State.
4. Green: Marbled paper from Flora Rustica: Exhibiting ... Figures of Such Plants as Are Either Useful or Injurious in Husbandry, Vol. 2 (1971) by Thomas Martyn and Frederick Polydore Nodder, illustrator.