Vintage Courting Couple Plant Pot in Distressed Cream

This vintage jardiniere brings a touch of theatre to a windowsill or mantel. A courting couple takes centre stage, moulded in raised relief against a softly textured ground. The gentleman is caught mid bow in his frock coat while his companion turns in a full skirted gown, a scene lifted straight from the Rococo revival taste that ran through decorative homeware in the early twentieth century, when makers loved to borrow the romance of Georgian courtship and press it into plaster and pottery.

The finish is where this piece really sings. A warm cream ground has been rubbed back over time to reveal flashes of black at the rim and foot, with soft touches of red and rose on the figures and the blooms scattered around them. The effect is worn, characterful and a little grand, a surface you simply cannot fake with anything new. Bands of scrollwork and latticework frame the couple top and bottom, giving the pot an architectural, almost stage set feeling.

It measures 19 x 22 cm, generous enough to hold a decent sized plant while still sitting happily on a shelf. We would drop a trailing ivy or a soft fern inside and let the leaves spill over that dark rim, or fill it with bleached grasses and seed heads for a calmer, sculptural look. It also works beautifully empty, purely as an object, on a stack of old books or beside a pair of candlesticks.

There is honest age here. The paint is worn and the surface carries the marks of a long life, all of which we think only adds to its appeal. This is a piece for anyone who loves a faded French chateau feeling at home, or who simply cannot resist a good story moulded in relief.

One of a kind and ready for its next chapter with you.