The boss would have been mounted on to a thick rim of white organic material such as bone, ivory or antler, which has long since vanished.

Everyone in her group was laden with two or three cone-shaped bundles — a couple dozen each of ranunculus, sweet peas, lisianthus, Queen Anne’s lace, spray roses and large roses in ivory and white.

Steeped in Gothic and Renaissance-era references, Bernad’s romantic designs feature almost exclusively antique lace and crochet in shades of cream and ivory, and sometimes black or the softest pink.

The professor in the ivory tower reminds us that words retain meaning.

“I do not paint inside an ivory tower. I speak of the society around me in my work.”