Found in Avignon, this Spanish botijo is a traditional clay water jug, made to keep water cool through the hottest part of a Mediterranean summer. The shape is the giveaway: a wide round belly, a central handle to carry it by, a wide mouth for filling, and a narrow spout for drinking. The botijo works by evaporation, with a little water seeping through the unglazed clay and cooling everything inside as it dries on the surface, the same principle that kept water cold in rural Spain long before refrigeration. The clay has weathered to a soft grey-green with chalky mineral deposits across the surface, the patina of a vessel that spent its life holding water. Sylvie places it on a kitchen counter on its own, the kind of object that needs nothing beside it.
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