Your CartI’m not sure when my love affair with white ironstone began, but I know it was a long, long time ago. Personally, I haven’t met a piece of antique ironstone I didn’t love, French, English or American. Each one has its own personality, and stories of past homes, families and meals, don’t they? Because the best things belong together it’s my latest Decor Crush: Let There Be White!
A collection of antique French and English ironstone serving pieces are both decorative and useful. White ironstone comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, the beauty of it is that it’s lasted for over 100 years, it’s sturdy, meant to be used, and beautiful!
The simplicity and utilitarian quality of gleaming white ironstone makes it a favorite collectable. Sometimes known as “the little black dress” of pottery, white ironstone mixes beautifully with antique, traditional, farmhouse, French country or contemporary interiors
Originally potted in England in the early 1800’s, ironstone blanks were decorated with transfer patterns or hand painting to imitate Chinese porcelain. An immediate success in England, ironstone is not porcelain, it’s a porous earthenware, made of clay mixed with feldspar
A collection of fine antique ironstone adds history and decorative beauty to your home, and the pieces are still very usable! That is the best part of these strong white dishes, they can still be used every day or on holidays, they earn their keep.
Not just for serving, large ironstone pitchers make the most wonderful containers for flowers.
In the kitchen ironstone pitchers can hold bouquets of antique wooden spoons with style!
Stacked on top of each other, small ironstone plates are a perfect pedestal for antique ironstone ‘jelly’ molds, they are decorative but can do double duty for holding just about anything.
Love in pure white, this is what some of my clients who collect antique ironstone call it. Ironstone
There are so many beautiful ways to use your collection of antique ironstone, including using some of your larger soup tureens to hold plants, especially orchids like I sometimes do in our living room,.
White ironstone mixes beautifully with antique, traditional, farmhouse, French country or contemporary interiors.
Ironstone pieces are survivors, their resilience tells their story, minor discoloration only adds to their patina and beauty.
Love how you use the ironstone and your comment that they are survivors and resilient. I have a few pieces with crazing, is that how to say it?
Happy Monday Alice! Ironstone is a survivor, and so resilient- after all, they’ve usually been used at the table for over a hundred years! Some collectors actually prefer the pieces with a darker color and lots of crazing, especially European collectors. Believe it or not, dealers that I buy from there actually price what they call ‘ well- buttered’ ironstone higher than the pristine white ones!
Wow, that’s so interesting Lidy.
I love ironstone, it makes it easy to mix and match with other dishes. My question is, is it okay to consume food out of dishes that has crazing? Beautiful post you have so many unique pieces. Thanks Lidy
Denise, the jury is out on that answer. My family, in Europe, has eaten from antique dishes with crazing for centuries, and most of them lived a very healthy life into their late 80’s (without taking medications) Since the crazing is not like a crack, it’s where the glaze has little cracks, I would say it’s okay. The ‘concern’ some people have is that bacteria or mold could grown in these tiny spaces, but if you wash your dishes in hot water and dry, I doubt that will happen.
Lidy, like you, I’ve long loved white ironstone. White serving pieces are the best all around pieces to have in one’s cupboard. I use them for food, for flowers, for containers in the kitchen or elsewhere. I found a set of the mini lion handled containers at the Round Top antique show this spring and gifted them to a darling young girl who lives in NYC, loves French antiques, especially things with a lion. Not sure what their original intent was, but I thought she could use them on charcuterie boards or salt on the table or stove side for cooking. What do you know about these little pieces?
Sarah, the really tiny French bowls with lion handles were most likely made for salt, or mustard at the table. The company used to make the lion handled bowls in a range of sizes, from miniature to soup tureen size. I have a collection of tureens and soup bowls here at home, and they really are timeless and so useful for all sorts of things, aren’t they?
Sarah, the really tiny French bowls with lion handles were most likely made for salt, or mustard at the table. The company used to make the lion handled bowls in a range of sizes, from miniature to soup tureen size. I have a collection of tureens and soup bowls here at home, and they really are timeless and so useful for all sorts of things, aren’t they?