• Vintage black toleware planter hand painted with an orange, purple grapes, a red apple and a banana
  • Reverse side of the painted tin planter showing a lemon, green grapes, pineapple and strawberries
  • Angled view of the fruit painted planter with green grapes, white blossoms and a watermelon slice
  • Oval toleware cachepot painted with watermelon, orange, grapes and apple on a black ground
  • Looking into the hand painted planter showing its scalloped rim and black painted interior
  • End of the tole planter with a yellow banana, green pear and small metal ring handle
  • Close up of a painted watermelon slice and white daisies with a ring handle on the planter
  • Brushwork detail of a pineapple, strawberries and a lemon painted on black toleware
  • Detail of hand painted purple grapes, an orange and a pink blossom on the tin planter
  • Black painted base of the vintage fruit decorated toleware planter
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The Blue Loft

Vintage Toleware Planter in Black with Hand Painted Fruit

£32.00
£32.00
Free UK tracked delivery on orders over £50.
  • One of a kind

A whole fruit bowl's worth of colour, painted by hand around a little oval tin planter. Against a glossy black ground sit a fat orange, bunches of purple and green grapes, a rosy apple, a speckled pear, a curling banana, a pineapple, plump strawberries, a slice of watermelon and a sunny lemon, all tucked between painted leaves and white blossoms. You can see every brushstroke, from the white seed flecks on the strawberries to the tiny cross hatching on the pineapple.

Toleware is painted tinware, a folk tradition that runs from eighteenth century Pontypool and the French tôle workshops through to the cheerful painted pieces made across Europe and the Americas in the twentieth century. This one is a later vintage example in that spirit, with a rim cut in a loose scalloped wave, two small ring handles at the ends and a black painted interior. It has the happy, slightly naive charm that makes folk art so easy to live with.

It measures 22cm wide, 16cm deep and 13cm high, and weighs 0.57kg. As a planter it suits a cluster of herbs, a hyacinth or a trailing ivy, and we would use an inner pot or liner rather than planting straight into the tin. It is just as happy holding fruit on the kitchen table, napkins and cutlery at a garden lunch, balls of wool, or a spray of dried hydrangeas on a dresser.

Condition is in keeping with age and use. The paint shows small scuffs and rubbing, mostly around the rim and base, the tin has a few gentle dents and wobbles in its shape, and the handles show light wear. To our eyes this only adds to its handmade character, and the colours remain bright and strong.

Pair it with other painted pieces from our Toleware & Painted Folk Art collection, or let it bring a burst of summer to a dark winter shelf.

Vintage black toleware planter hand painted with an orange, purple grapes, a red apple and a banana
Reverse side of the painted tin planter showing a lemon, green grapes, pineapple and strawberries
Angled view of the fruit painted planter with green grapes, white blossoms and a watermelon slice
Oval toleware cachepot painted with watermelon, orange, grapes and apple on a black ground
Looking into the hand painted planter showing its scalloped rim and black painted interior
End of the tole planter with a yellow banana, green pear and small metal ring handle
Close up of a painted watermelon slice and white daisies with a ring handle on the planter
Brushwork detail of a pineapple, strawberries and a lemon painted on black toleware
Detail of hand painted purple grapes, an orange and a pink blossom on the tin planter
Black painted base of the vintage fruit decorated toleware planter