Vintage Glass Compotier

Outside Lyon there is a dealer we have known for years, and the loveliest things always come from the same place, his father’s collection, built up over a lifetime of looking. This footed compotier came from that collection, a wide shallow bowl edged in glass sawtooth and lightly etched, raised on a knopped stem and a flaring foot dotted with hobnail. It has the weight and the shine of old glass, curving the light and turning whatever it holds into something worth a second look. Sylvie piles it with apples or fruit, a few tumbling over the open rim.