Blue Onion Teacup & Saucer

Blue Onion is one of those patterns half of Europe grew up setting the table with, cobalt flowers and curling stems copied from maker to maker for nearly three hundred years. This cup and saucer carries it in deep blue on white, a scalloped saucer and a fluted cup with a squared handle, marked underneath by its maker. It is called Blue Onion though there is not an onion in it, the shapes a European misreading of the Chinese peaches and pomegranates the pattern was first copied from. Sylvie uses it for an espresso after dinner, small and pretty against a stack of plain white.