Vintage French Miel Honey Pot in Yellow Glaze

Miel is French for honey, and that single painted word tells you exactly what this cheerful little pot was made for. It is a traditional French honey pot, hand painted in a sunny yellow with simple flowers and foliage and a pair of small looped handles, finished with its own lid notched to hold a wooden honey dipper. It is a proper piece of French country charm that makes a breakfast table feel a little like a holiday.

It measures 13cm tall including the lid and around 8cm across, a neat size that sits happily on a shelf or a kitchen counter without asking for much room.

The glaze has crazed over the pot, a fine network of surface lines that has come with age. On a piece like this it reads as character as much as anything, though it does mean we would keep it for display or dry use rather than trusting it with actual runny honey.

Use it to hold sugar sachets or teaspoons by the kettle, tuck a tiny faux posy inside, or simply let it brighten a shelf of French brocante finds. The yellow lifts a dresser in an instant and plays beautifully against blue and white china.

Vintage French honey pots have a devoted following among lovers of provincial pottery, and this is a particularly sweet example, pun fully intended. Priced to reflect the crazing, so a lovely low cost way to bring a little French sunshine into a kitchen.