German Pitcher

Belgium, 20th Century

$175

Vintage One-Of-A-Kind Kitchen Must Have

Meissen drew this pattern in 1740 and could not keep hold of it, and within a generation half the potteries in Europe were painting their own version of the straw flower. Found in Belgium, this pitcher carries that pattern in cobalt blue on white, a tall tapered body with a scrolled handle and a lipped spout for pouring. Every factory that copied it changed something, a stem here, a spray there, so that no two makers' straw flowers ever quite matched, and you can tell one house from another by the details alone. Sylvie keeps it out on the table filled with water or a few stems, the blue and white doing what it has always done on a morning table.

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