La Gloriette Purple Eggplant Limoges Box

Glossy purple, plump and fresh from the vine, this porcelain eggplant could almost pass for one picked at the farmers market. La Gloriette made it as a hand-painted Limoges box in Limoges, France.

Aubergine, Please

The French call it aubergine, and it shows up everywhere in Provencal cooking, from ratatouille to roasted summer platters. Its deep purple skin is one of the richest colors in the vegetable garden, and the porcelain version captures that sheen in paint.

Kitchen Garden Collection

• A La Gloriette piece, hand-painted in Limoges, France
• Fits a fruit and vegetable, kitchen or garden grouping
• Pairs with tomato, pepper and garlic shaped pieces

For the Cook and Grower

A porcelain eggplant is a fun present for a chef, a culinary school graduate, a vegetable gardener with a bumper crop, or a friend who just learned to make a proper ratatouille. It suits a kitchen windowsill, an open shelf near the stove or a hutch full of everyday dishes.

Fruit and Vegetable Tradition

Limoges porcelain is hard-paste porcelain, fired at very high heat, which gives it the strength to hold crisp shapes like this one. Painters have long favored garden produce as a subject, and a row of porcelain vegetables makes a cheerful display.