Antique French Barbotine Majolica Plate with Cherries and Tulip 9½"

"I was collecting majolica at one point, and this was part of the collection"— and this barbotine plate is a fine example of why that collecting phase left such a lasting mark on Patricia's kitchen.

Found at a flea market, this superb French antique dinner plate is glazed in a soft celadon. The entire surface is worked in low-relief basketweave — fine, precise, woven-looking — against which two sprays of plump red cherries and a single opening tulip in deep mauve and cream are arranged.

The plate appears more than once in the pages of *The French Kitchen Cookbook*, photographed as part of the world Patricia built around her cooking school — which says something about how well it photographs and how naturally it belongs in a working kitchen. It would sit beautifully propped on a shelf, used as a fruit plate, or laid flat on a table among other collected pieces. The celadon ground works with almost any palette.