Skip to content

Top Navigation

Martha Stewart Martha Stewart
  • FOOD
  • HOLIDAYS
  • ENTERTAINING
  • HOME
  • GARDENING
  • CLEANING & ORGANIZING
  • WEDDINGS
  • SHOP
  • DIY
  • BEAUTY & WELLNESS
  • LIFE
  • NEWS
  • MARTHA'S BLOG
  • About Us

Profile Menu

Martha's Blog
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Your Content
  • Logout

More

  • Enter to Win $10,000 to Makeover Your Home!
  • Martha's Blog
  • Weddings
Login
Pin FB

Explore Martha Stewart

Martha Stewart Martha Stewart
  • Explore

    Explore

    • Tips on Organizing Your Home

      Tips on Organizing Your Home

      From the kitchen and bathroom to the bedroom and laundry room, here are 40 ways to simplify, streamline, and banish clutter throughout the house. Read More
    • These Are the Paint Colors You'll See Everywhere in 2022

      These Are the Paint Colors You'll See Everywhere in 2022

      Upgrade your spaces with new—and old—classics. Read More
    • 39 Make-Ahead Holiday Dishes That Are Perfect for Festive Family Gatherings

      39 Make-Ahead Holiday Dishes That Are Perfect for Festive Family Gatherings

      These classic recipes will help you get a head start on the festivities. Read More
  • FOOD

    FOOD

    See All FOOD
    • Breakfast & Brunch Recipes
    • Lunch Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Appetizers & Snacks
    • Dessert Recipes
    • Drink Recipes
    • Salad Recipes
    • Side Dishes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Healthy Recipes
    • Quick & Easy Recipes
    • Vegetarian Recipes
    • Cooking How-Tos
    • Baking
    • Menu Planning
    • Food News & Trends
    • Wine
    • Mastering the Holiday Meal
    • What's for Dinner
    • All Recipes
  • HOLIDAYS

    HOLIDAYS

    See All HOLIDAYS
    All of Our Best Valentine's Day Crafts to Make from the Heart

    All of Our Best Valentine's Day Crafts to Make from the Heart

    Express your love with handmade Valentine's crafts like paper cards, gift ideas, and decorations.
    • Valentine's Day
    • St. Patricks Day
    • Passover
    • Easter
    • Mother's Day
    • Father's Day
    • Fourth of July
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Hanukkah
    • Christmas
    • New Year's Eve
  • ENTERTAINING

    ENTERTAINING

    See All ENTERTAINING
    Will We Entertain Differently in 2022? These Are the New Trends Hostesses Should Bookmark

    Will We Entertain Differently in 2022? These Are the New Trends Hostesses Should Bookmark

    Secure your role as the host with the absolute most.
    • Seasonal Entertaining & Decorating
    • Baby Shower Ideas
    • Dinner Party Ideas
    • You're Invited
  • HOME

    HOME

    See All HOME
    How to Hang and Arrange Pictures

    How to Hang and Arrange Pictures

    Amp up your home décor with perfectly placed frames.
    • Home Design & Decor
    • Paint Colors & Palettes
    • DIY Home Projects
    • The Well-Kept Home
  • GARDENING

    GARDENING

    See All GARDENING
    Six Houseplant Mistakes to Avoid This Winter

    Six Houseplant Mistakes to Avoid This Winter

    Don't let your varieties fall victim to the perils of poor cold-weather maintenance.
    • Container Gardening
    • Flower Gardens
    • Houseplants
    • Landscaping
    • Vegetable Gardens
  • CLEANING & ORGANIZING

    CLEANING & ORGANIZING

    How to Deep Clean Your Oven with Baking Soda

    How to Deep Clean Your Oven with Baking Soda

    Our easy tips will make this cleaning task a lot less daunting.
    • Cleaning
    • Storage & Organization
    • Laundry & Linens
  • WEDDINGS

    WEDDINGS

    See All WEDDINGS
    Your Ultimate Wedding-Planning Timeline

    Your Ultimate Wedding-Planning Timeline

    Ready, set, go! Our no-nonsense guide will help you learn how to plan your wedding like a pro.
    • Real Weddings
    • Wedding Party
    • Wedding Planning & Advice
    • Wedding Ceremony & Reception
    • Wedding Jewelry
    • Dresses & Style
    • Wedding Beauty & Wellness
    • Wedding Registry
    • Wedding Showers & Parties
    • Love & Marriage
    • Wedding Travel
  • SHOP
  • DIY

    DIY

    See All DIY
    How to Knit: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide

    How to Knit: A Beginner's Step-by-Step Guide

    Learn how to knit your own mittens, hats, scarves, and more. We'll take you through the step-by-step instructions and teach you how to cast on, knit, purl, and cast off.
    • Dyeing
    • Holiday Crafts
    • Kids' Crafts
    • Knitting
    • Paper Crafts
    • Sewing
    • Rescue & Revamp
  • BEAUTY & WELLNESS

    BEAUTY & WELLNESS

    Your Complete Guide to Restoring Moisture Back Into Your Skin

    Your Complete Guide to Restoring Moisture Back Into Your Skin

    Take a multi-pronged approach if you're experiencing excess dryness.
    • Beauty
    • Health & Wellness
    • Live Well
  • LIFE

    LIFE

    See All LIFE
    • Family
    • Pets
    • Travel
    • Net Worth
  • NEWS
  • MARTHA'S BLOG
  • About Us

Profile Menu

Martha's Blog
Your Account

Account

  • Join Now
  • Email Preferences
  • Newsletter
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
  • Contact Us
  • Your Content
  • Logout

More

  • Enter to Win $10,000 to Makeover Your Home!
  • Martha's Blog
  • Weddings
Login
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

  1. marthastewart.com
  2. DIY Projects & Crafts
  3. An Expert Guide to Collecting Decorative Fake Fruit

An Expert Guide to Collecting Decorative Fake Fruit

eleni-gage-0314-8551-d111150.jpg
By Eleni N. Gage August 23, 2017
Skip gallery slides
Pin
wooden fruit
Credit: MARIA ROBLEDO
Worldly, exquisitely crafted, highly coveted — yes, we're singing the praises of fake fruit. Designers and collectors scour antiques shops and eBay for specimens that can turn any home into a garden of delights. To get the juices flowing, feast your eyes on these arrangements. The pieces may be artificial, but the styles — from rustic to refined — and the indigenous materials are authentically gorgeous.
Start Slideshow

1 of 6

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
wooden fruit
Credit: MARIA ROBLEDO

Worldly, exquisitely crafted, highly coveted -- yes, we’re singing the praises of fake fruit. Designers and collectors scour antiques shops and eBay for specimens that can turn any home into a garden of delights. To get the juices flowing, feast your eyes on these arrangements. The pieces may be artificial, but the styles -- from rustic to refined -- and the indigenous materials are authentically gorgeous.

Wood Things

These fruits didn’t grow on trees, but they are carved from the tropical varieties found in Mexico and Africa. “You’ll find a lot of unusual edibles rendered in wood that aren’t native to North America, like star fruit and kiwifruit,” says our contributing editor and collecting expert Fritz Karch. While these pieces are not painted, he adds, “the artist may pick the wood for its beautiful graining, or stain it.”

1 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 6

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Marble Magic

marble fruit
Credit: MARIA ROBLEDO

Starting in the 19th century, Italian artisans took leftover chips of marble from quarries, sculpted them into stunning objects, and painted them. “Some look realistic; others are more folksy,” Karch says. “It depends on the skill of the carver and painter.” Most are actual-size, but you’ll also see oversize pieces, meant to be used as bookends -- for instance, two halves of a huge pear (on mantle). The most special finds are clusters of small fruit, such as strawberries or grapes (for the latter, individual balls of marble are wired together onto a real -- and quite fragile—stem). Luckily for collectors, artisans still make these today.

2 of 6

3 of 6

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Succulent Stones

stone fruit decorative
Credit: MARIA ROBLEDO

Chinese artists have been carving jade, agate, and chalcedony into sublime produce since the early days of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911). Many pieces have allegorical meanings: Apples can symbolize peace, and pears can stand for longevity. These “edibles” aren’t painted, stained, or dyed. “The artists find geology that’s the color they’re trying to mimic, making sure they are botanically correct as well,” explains Karch, who collects these himself.

3 of 6

Advertisement

4 of 6

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Beaded Beauties

beaded-fruit-103044780
Credit: MARIA ROBLEDO

From the 1940s to the 1970s, fruit-making kits were all the rage for American makers. They came complete with Styrofoam bases, plastic beads or sequins, and pins for attaching them. “Some people took artistic license in trying to make them realistic -- a banana with green spots to look half-ripe, for example,” says Karch. “But others are just kitsch.” No matter the material, the rarest finds are slices, half-eaten pieces, and bunches of berries or grapes. When displaying these, “more is more,” says Karch. His preference: heaping them in an large glass vessel.

4 of 6

5 of 6

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Amazing Alabaster

alabaster fruit
Credit: MARIA ROBLEDO

These Mexican treasures are made like their Italian cousins, but using leftover pieces of alabaster instead of marble. Another difference: Their appearance veers more toward magical realism than exact replicas. “They tend to be cartoony and kind of pop,” says Karch. “What’s great is you get all these tropical fruits you don’t find in Italy: mangoes, papayas, little bananas.”

Much of the alabaster fruit in this country made its way here as tourist keepsakes (they can still be found in Mexico), but in the 1950s, options were also available in U.S. housewares shops. “They were big as centerpieces in your dining room or kitchen, or on a coffee table,” says Karch. “It was the fantasy of having a pile of scrumptious fruit off-season.”

5 of 6

6 of 6

Pin
Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message

Master Glass

glass fruit
Credit: MARIA ROBLEDO

Unlike most faux fruit, these showstoppers are signed by the creator -- the house of Barbini, in Murano, Italy. Each of the islands’ renowned glassworks is famous for its own technique, and Barbini’s trademark is trapping a bubble, often colored, in the center. A centuriesold tradition, Murano glass gained recognition in the U.S. after World War II, with actual-size works rising in popularity as souvenir paperweights, and outsize options like these serving as bookends. The produce is still beloved today, for its beauty and for sentimental reasons. Along with figs and, as Karch says, “every kind of fruit that’s local in the Mediterranean,” artisans produce grapes as symbols of luck, and individual cherries, which can be given as sweet favors to wedding guests.

6 of 6

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

By Eleni N. Gage

    Share the Gallery

    Pinterest Facebook
    Trending Videos
    Advertisement
    Skip slide summaries

    Everything in This Slideshow

    Advertisement

    View All

    1 of 6
    2 of 6 Marble Magic
    3 of 6 Succulent Stones
    4 of 6 Beaded Beauties
    5 of 6 Amazing Alabaster
    6 of 6 Master Glass

    Share & More

    Facebook Tweet Email Send Text Message
    Martha Stewart

    Learn More

    • Contact Us
    • Customer Service
    • Media Kit
    • Martha's Blog
    • Advertise
    • Content Licensing
    • FAQ
    • Corporate
    • International
    • Accolades this link opens in a new tab

    Connect

    Follow Us
    Subscribe to Our Newsletter
    Sign Up
    MeredithMartha Stewart is part of the Meredith Home Group. © Copyright 2022 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
    © Copyright Martha Stewart. All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.marthastewart.com

    Sign in

    View image

    An Expert Guide to Collecting Decorative Fake Fruit
    this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.