The glow of grime Of course this 'sheen of antiquity' of which we hear so much is in fact the glow of grime. In both Chinese and Japanese the words denoting this glow describe a polish that comes of being touched over and over again, a sheen produced by the oils that naturally permeate an object over long years of handling—which is to say grime. If indeed 'elegance is frigid', it can as well be described as filthy. Jun'ichirō Tanizaki & Thomas J. Harper, In Praise of Shadows timeaestheticsfilthflaws
More real than living man He will watch from dawn to gloom The lake reflected sun illume The yellow bees in the ivy-bloom Nor heed, nor see, what things they be; But from these create he can Forms more real than living man. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Prometheus Unbound The Nature and Aesthetics of Design making