Green Bell Pepper Porcelain Limoges Box

A single green bell pepper, the sort you might pull straight from the garden in late summer, has been turned into a small porcelain box. It is a hand-painted Limoges box made in Limoges, France, with the vegetable itself forming the shape.

Picked at Peak Green

Vegetables are among the most charming subjects in the Limoges tradition, partly because they are so ordinary. A pepper has no fancy story behind it, which is exactly why it works: it brings the kitchen garden indoors in a form that will never wilt on the counter.

Rounding Out the Veggie Patch

• Hand-painted porcelain from Limoges, France
• Belongs in a vegetable, garden or farm stand collection
• Pairs well with tomato, carrot, eggplant and corn pieces

A Nod to the Home Cook

Hand it to the friend whose summer salsa is famous, a vegetable gardener at the end of a good season, or someone who has just planted raised beds for the first time. It also makes a lighthearted thank-you for a dinner host who cooks from scratch.

Porcelain has been produced in Limoges since the late eighteenth century, once fine white kaolin clay turned up near Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche in 1768. This humble pepper carries that long craft into the everyday world of the kitchen.