A pantry that displays everyday ceramics
There was a time we kept the good pieces for someone else's dinner party. Wrapped, at the back of a cupboard, waiting for an occasion that rarely came. There was no pantry yet then, just kitchen cabinets overflowing with half bags of cereal and whatever else didn't have a proper place to be.
Before we built ours, most people here didn't quite understand what we meant by the word. A pantry isn't really a thing the Dutch make much of. The British, on the other hand, have turned it into one of the best rooms in the house, and that's where the idea came from, if I'm honest.
That's changed. Most of our favourite antique ceramics live in the pantry now, out on open shelves, doing the least glamorous work in the house. A bowl holds fruit. A dish holds onions, another garlic. Plates get stacked, pulled down, used, put back. Nothing in there is precious in the way it used to be.
Which is, we think, when a piece actually starts to mean something. An antique kept for best is really just being stored. Used daily, it becomes part of the house rather than a visitor in it.
Villeroy & Boch is one of the oldest continuously working names in European ceramics, and Burgenland is the pattern most collectors reach for first when they search the maker. The mark on the reverse — "fabrique en Sarre" — was only ever used during the years the Saarland sat under French economic administration, so this set carries its own dated window rather than a vague guess at the century. Ten matching pieces have stayed together, in a pattern that more often turns up scattered across estate sales one or two plates at a time; a set this complete, from a name this established, is not something that comes along often.
14,5cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
The backstamp reads simply "England," a wording used on export ware between 1891 and roughly 1920, before "Made in England" became the standard — narrow enough to place this deep oval dish somewhere around the turn of the last century, over a hundred years of use behind it. It is also the largest and most functional serving piece in the whole collection, the kind that was made to survive a working kitchen rather than sit in a cabinet, and the tea-coloured staining worked into the glaze is exactly the evidence of that.
28 x 22 x 7,5 cm
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Made by Myott in Staffordshire in 1982, this set of nine side plates carries the Melody pattern — a swirled ironstone body with alternating floral and fish-scale panels in blue. Not antique in the strict sense, but a complete, unchipped set of English tableware old enough to have its own settled patina. Sold together because sets like this are harder to find intact than the pattern itself, which turns up often but rarely in nine matching pieces.
Nine plates from the same run, close enough in transfer and glaze to read as a proper set rather than a gathered lot — the larger size of these makes them the more useful, everyday pieces in the willow family running through this collection. Look closely and no two are printed quite the same; the transfer sits a little heavier on some than others, the kind of small variation that comes from hand-applied work rather than a single uniform mould.
18,5cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
The willow landscape — bridge, pagoda, willow tree, two birds in flight — has been reproduced by dozens of makers since the late eighteenth century, so a set like this earns its keep through completeness rather than rarity. Six matching gilt-edged plates, unchipped and sold together, at a size that suits everyday styling rather than a single showpiece.
18cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
A second Villeroy & Boch pattern in this collection alongside Burgenland, which is a rarer thing to have from one maker than it might sound — "Alt Lothringen," hand-painted-style florals in pink, yellow and green on an oval scalloped dish. Two small old chips, otherwise a strong companion piece to sit near the Burgenland set in photographs.
25x14,5cm
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
The same factory group as its sibling piece, later merged with Hamage — this one in "Cahors," a green floral scroll pattern with a diamond-trellis border, as marked on the reverse. A lovely pair for anyone photographing pieces together. Two small chips.
22cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible — though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
The same factory group as the Cahors, later merged with Hamage — this one in "Andrinople," a red monochrome scroll pattern shared across several French makers of the period, and a natural pair with its sibling piece for anyone photographing the two together. Two small chips.
22cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible — though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
A pastoral scene titled "Labour en Cage" in deep burgundy transferware — French or Belgian, the maker's mark too worn to confirm, sold honestly as unattributed. Red and burgundy transferware turns up far less often than blue and white from this period, which makes it a useful change of colour against the rest of this collection rather than another variation on the same theme. Small chip to the rim.
21cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible — though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
A large serving dish in Regout's "Meibloem" pattern, produced within a documented window between 1895 and 1916 — the biggest and most usable Regout piece in the collection, and large serving pieces like this survive in far smaller numbers than the plates that came with them, most having been broken through decades of actual dinners.
37,5 x 24 x 5 cm
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible — though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
J. Vieillard & Cie operated in Bordeaux from 1829 to 1895, a well-documented and actively collected French faience maker, and "Rouen" was their own decorative line reviving the antique faience style of that city — a dense floral border around a rosette medallion, the genuine article rather than a later imitation. Five plates have come through in excellent order, which for French faience of this age and this maker is a set worth keeping intact; the sixth carries a small chip and is offered separately.
25cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Seven labelled kitchen canisters — thee, koffie, vermicelli, muscaat, nagelen, peper, kruiden — in an art deco fan motif, hand-thrown rather than machine-cast, with the slight unevenness in shape and glaze to prove it. A full run like this, all seven labels intact and together, rarely survives a house move let alone a century; scattered chips throughout, sold as a set for the shelf they were always meant to stand on.
small jars 11 x 5,5 x 7 cm, large jars 20 x 9,5 x 11 cm
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Unmarked, faceted, ivory-toned ironstone bowls, graduated from a large serving size down to a small side dish — the kind of kitchen ware that earns its keep in daily use rather than sitting still on a shelf. A full graduated run surviving together is harder to come by than any single bowl on its own, and the slight irregularities in shape and glaze point to hand-finished production rather than a fully mechanised one.
largest 23 x 10 cm, smallest 10 x 4,5 cm
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
The registration number on the reverse ties this design to 1913 with more certainty than most antique china can offer — part of a range William Adams marketed by pointing back to their own original 1780 pattern, a maker leaning on over a century of its own history. Chinese bird medallions set within a fine trellis border make this a clear step away from the willow pattern running through most of the rest of this collection, and a good piece to photograph on its own.
25,5cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Unmarked, but the scalloped edge and gilt line are the kind of finishing touch a maker only bothers with on a slightly better line — enough to lift it above the plainer willow china nearby, in good condition throughout.
saucer 14,5cm wide
cup 9,5 wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Marked "Old Willow" by English Ironstone Tableware Ltd, a Staffordshire maker working through the 1960s to 80s — vintage rather than antique, and a matching cup and saucer by the look of the transfer print, kept together rather than sold as odd pieces. Two small chips to the cup's footring.
saucer 14,5cm wide
cup 8,5 wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Unmarked, but noticeably finer and thinner than most of the willow china in this collection — thin porcelain rather than the heavier ironstone seen elsewhere, the kind of body that was more costly to produce even without a maker's name attached to say so.
saucer 13,5cm wide
cup 8,5 wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
W. Adams & Sons of Tunstall is a well-documented Staffordshire name, marked here simply "England" — a wording that narrows production to the 1890s rather than leaving it open to the century. Three plates survive from the same run: one in perfect order, two carrying small chips to the rear rim.
18cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
A Victorian ironstone quality mark — a crown within a scrolled ribbon — sits alongside kiln spur marks and heavy crazing, all pointing the same direction: genuinely old, genuinely hand-finished. The crack running through the base was fired in under the glaze at the factory itself rather than broken later, which makes it a record of how the piece was made rather than a flaw to work around.
26cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
A Burslem maker with a name still recognised today, marked simply "England" rather than "Made in England," which places production before the early 1920s — among the earlier pieces in this collection by that measure. A handful of old chips sit along the rear rim, the kind of wear that comes from a plate that was genuinely used rather than kept behind glass; sold here as decorative rather than table-ready.
25,5cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
No maker's name survives on this one, only a generic "Semi China Warranted" quality stamp used by several English potteries through the nineteenth century — sold honestly as unattributed rather than dressed up with a guess. What it does have is the fine crazing worked through the entire surface and a tea-brown patina settled deep into the glaze, the kind of wear that only comes from genuine age and use.
24cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
A scrolled "Stone Ware" quality stamp with initials too worn to resolve into a maker's name, sold honestly as unattributed rather than guessed at. What carries this one is the crazing and patina worked into both sides — the kind of surface that only develops after well over a century of handling, and a convincing case on its own for genuine nineteenth-century production.
27cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
The Cappellemans factory in Jemmapes operated for a single, documented stretch — 1847 to 1870 — working in partnership with the English maker William Smith, which is why this plate reads so convincingly English despite being Belgian through and through. That short, closed window of production is unusually precise for antique china, which more often carries a rough guess spanning fifty years rather than twenty-three; two fine hairlines mean this one wants a wall rather than a table.
24,5cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
No maker's mark, but three small spur marks on the underside — the scars left by kiln supports during firing, a detail that all but disappears once production moves to later, mechanised methods, and a reliable sign of genuine hand-finished nineteenth-century work. The weight and the slightly uneven glaze tell the same story from a different angle.
24,5cm wide
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Made in Maastricht by Société Céramique, whose "Made in Holland" mark dates to after 1891 — one of the small handful of genuinely Dutch pieces among china that is otherwise almost entirely English and French, which makes it a natural fit for a collection with its own roots close by. A fine hairline runs through the base, worth knowing before it goes on a shelf rather than a table.
24,5cm wide
4cm high
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
Wedgwood is one of the very few English ceramics names recognised well outside the trade, and this plate carries an impressed mark rather than the later printed version — a detail that places production in the earlier stretch of the twentieth century, before Wedgwood moved to printing its marks. The body is noticeably thin and light for its size, consistent with the finer potting of that earlier period, and the willow scene beneath it is complete and sharply defined.
24,5cm wide
4cm high
We've done our best to photograph and describe each piece as accurately as possible, though with antique ceramics, a little craquelure and discolouring is part of the charm rather than a flaw to hide. Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.
It's also where the harvest ends up. Garlic hangs to dry there, herbs too, alongside a shelf of cookbooks that never quite fit anywhere else. Underneath, tucked behind a curtain, sits the part nobody photographs: empty jars, rice, pasta, beans, and a freezer that would otherwise have to live somewhere far less convenient. There's a small coffee station in there as well, just enough to make it without giving up an inch of the kitchen counter.
There's a practical side too. Open shelves mean the colour and the texture of old ceramics get to do something in the room, quietly, without anyone deciding to display them on purpose. A pantry is usually the last place anyone thinks to make an effort. It doesn't need much. Even a small mirror in there earns its place, bouncing light into a corner that would otherwise stay dim, making the whole thing feel a little larger than it is.
Small decisions, in a room nobody photographs for the hallway. Once you have one, though, you rather wonder how you managed without it.
We're still working out what else belongs on those shelves.
An antique latoen mirror from the Napoleon III period, with patina on the glass. Jo shows natural signs of age to the metal and surface, consistent with her history. Carefully sourced and well preserved.
Due to her size, Lottie is suitable for use in hallways, toilets, or above a console.
58cm height
34cm width
Please note: as with all antique items, small imperfections are part of the charm and authenticity of the piece.
An antique latoen mirror from the Napoleon III period, with patina on the glass. Tillie shows natural signs of age to the metal and surface, consistent with her history. Carefully sourced and well preserved.
Due to her size, Tillie is suitable for use in hallways, toilets, or above a console.
61cm height
34cm width
Please note: as with all antique items, small imperfections are part of the charm and authenticity of the piece.
An antique latoen mirror from the Napoleon III period, with patina on the glass. Jo shows natural signs of age to the metal and surface, consistent with her history. Carefully sourced and well preserved.
Due to her size, Jo is suitable for use in hallways, toilets, or above a console.
52cm height
26,5cm width
Please note: as with all antique items, small imperfections are part of the charm and authenticity of the piece.
A blue floral cup-and-saucer service, still in production today by Claytan Tableware in Malaysia — new rather than antique, chosen here for how well the pattern sits alongside older pieces on a table.
Every piece is packed with the same care we'd want it to arrive with, and our shipping cost reflects that.