Large French Glazed Stoneware Preserving Jar

Before refrigeration, French kitchens relied heavily on preserving, and substantial pottery jars were used for storing everything from salted and preserved foods to fats and confit. Confit de canard and confit d’oie were traditionally cooked slowly before being packed into containers and covered with fat, helping preserve the meat for considerably longer. Glazed pottery was well suited to this sort of kitchen storage because the glazed interior provided a less porous surface than untreated earthenware.

We can’t say exactly what this particular jar originally held, but its wide neck, substantial rim and straightforward utilitarian form are very much in keeping with traditional French storage and preserving pottery. It’s a good example of an ordinary household object that has become particularly useful again in a modern kitchen.

Good used condition with marks, glaze variations, firing imperfections and areas of wear from age and previous use. The surface has the irregularities we would expect from an older utilitarian piece of pottery. Please study the photographs as these form part of the condition description.

It’s the simplicity of this one that does it for us. The creamy glaze, big rolled rim and slightly imperfect surface are enough. It’s also genuinely useful — we'd have it full of wooden spoons beside the cooker, but a big leafy house plant would look equally good in it.