Collection of 8 Handmade Miniature Dishes & Saucers

A set of eight petite handmade ceramic saucers, gathered by Patricia Wells over many years and long at home at Chanteduc, her farmhouse and cooking school in Vaison-la-Romaine. The pieces vary pleasingly in form: some octagonal, some oval, one with a scalloped rim. The glazes run through the warm ochre, amber, sage and forest green that feel entirely native to Provence — deep and slightly uneven in the way that only hand-thrown work achieves. One dish carries a painted olive branch border; another bears a small decorative motif in the Provençal tradition. When not in use, they lived in the "Marseille cabinet," a superb antique vitrine in Chanteduc's living room, displayed among other pieces that were equally admired and put to work. One of the small rectangular dishes appears on page 194 of The French Kitchen Cookbook. Arranged together on a kitchen shelf or sideboard, they make a handsome and coherent group — the palette shifts just enough across the set to keep it interesting. Scatter them across a table at drinks time exactly as Patricia did, or press them into service as soap dishes, where their scale and depth of glaze are perfectly suited.

Light wear.
Varying sizes b/w 3½" and 6¾" long
Varying sizes b/w 9cm and 17cm long