Vintage Toleware Planter in Aubergine with Hand Painted White Hydrangeas

Big, blowsy white hydrangeas painted by hand around a round tin planter, each flower head built up from dozens of thick little brushstrokes with a dot of yellow at the heart. Between them sit broad sage green leaves outlined in pale duck egg blue, with a few curling buds tucked in, all on a deep aubergine ground that reads almost black from across the room. The rim is cut in soft scallops and lightly embossed with flowers on the inside, a lovely detail you only spot when you lean in.

Toleware is the old name for painted tinware, a folk craft that has decorated kitchens and parlours since the eighteenth century, from Pontypool japanning to the painted tôle of France. This is a later vintage piece made in that tradition, and its hand painting has all the confidence and charm that makes the style so collectable.

It measures 24cm in diameter and 12.5cm high, and weighs 0.57kg. That is a generous size for a cluster of paperwhites or hyacinth bulbs in winter, a pot of herbs on the kitchen windowsill or a trailing fern, though we would sit a plant in an inner pot rather than straight into the tin. Off duty it makes a handsome fruit bowl, a bread basket for the table, or a tidy home for magazines, wool or garden twine.

Condition is in keeping with age and use. There is some paint loss to one hydrangea and a few small chips along the rim, the base shows rubbing and scattered marks, and the tin has gentle wobbles in its shape. None of it takes away from the painting, which remains fresh and striking.

White hydrangeas never go out of fashion, and this planter will look just as good beside dried flowers and old books as it would on a summer table. You can find more painted pieces in our Toleware & Painted Folk Art collection.