Vintage Moroccan Style Hand Painted Ceramic Vase in Blue, Green and Ochre Geometric Bands

A bottle shaped vase that carries an entire pattern library on its sides. This vintage hand painted ceramic vase is decorated in horizontal bands from neck to foot, each one a different geometric motif: a lattice of ochre and blue diamonds around the widest point, arched scallops in turquoise, rows of stars and dots, sawtooth borders and a fringe of stylised leaves in green and yellow at the base. The palette is cobalt blue, sea green, mustard ochre and a touch of aubergine on a warm white ground, all brushed on by hand with the slight wobble that tells you no two are the same.

The style is that of the Safi and Fez potteries of Morocco, where this kind of dense banded decoration has been painted for centuries and exported across Europe throughout the 20th century. It shares a family resemblance with Spanish Talavera and Portuguese Coimbra ware too, all of which grew from the same Islamic tradition of covering every surface in pattern. The vase stands 34 cm tall and 18 cm at its widest point, with a narrow neck and a small everted lip, so it is a proper statement piece rather than a shelf filler.

We would leave it empty on a plain wooden console or a whitewashed mantelpiece where the pattern can do all the talking, or drop in a few tall dried grasses or a single branch of olive if it needs softening. It suits a sunny hallway, a bookshelf against a white wall, or a corner of a kitchen with terracotta tiles and open shelving. The blue and ochre pair especially well with rattan, linen and unpainted wood, and it holds its own beside more traditional English blue and white without clashing.

The glaze is glossy and the colours are strong and unfaded, with the small pinholes and glaze skips that are part and parcel of hand thrown, hand painted pottery. A vase with real character and a lot of colour packed into one silhouette.