Dramatic Ceramics

Once upon a time, there were two vintage French espresso cups. They came to live at my house to be loved and cherished, carefully washed and dried after each use. Mint green and pastel pink, lovely and sweet, they sat each day together, two friends in ceramic.


Their friend came along with them: a sweet little creamer jug, similar in colour to the pink cup, but lacking a partner. Sad and lonely, it waited on the shelf, watching its friends being used, seeing how they had each other to complement their existence. In vain, it waited for me to find it a friend, something the same colour, or maybe of the same Villeroy and Boch family. I searched and searched, but its partner was nowhere to be found.


But last weekend, I met this little candy dish. It beckoned to me in a vintage shop. It called me back again and again as I walked through the shop, and the shop owner recognized what was happening and let me take it home for a very good deal. I thought it would be a nice sugar bowl to go with the creamer jug. It seemed to be just right in its proportions, with its cute little knob on the lid and all. It is Asian, not French, but maybe, just maybe it would be friends with the creamer jug.


I introduced it to the creamer jug. They looked each other up and down, sizing one another up, two different ceramics from different parts of the world. And yet, they seemed to want to be together.


And so I brought the rest of the family along, and together they sat, unsure, not quite the same, but still intriguingly similar. Will it work out? Will they live happily ever after? Will the candy dish be able to take on its new role, or will it be forever an outsider, a stranger from another part of the world?



Luckily, I had a back up plan: It came with a friend. I was going to put it in the spare bedroom, but if it doesn't work out, at least they'll have each other.


Perhaps all will be well, who knows? If it gets ugly, I'm going to have to break it up somehow, everyone to their own shelf until they learn to behave. The world of vintage ceramics is full of drama, after all...

Comments

YarnKettle said…
I think they will make a lovely happy blended family.

What makes them espresso cups and not tea cups? I thought espresso cups were tiny?
AdrieneJ said…
Me too! The person who sold them to me called them espresso cups, but they are tea cup sized to me. I think they call them "demitasse" in France, "half cup." It's worth an investigation. I have been using them for tea. Don't tell anyone. ;)
AdrieneJ said…
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