Set of Four Antique French Silver-Plated Ladles

A set of four antique silver-plated ladles, gathered one by one over the years from flea markets and brocantes across France, and put to genuine, daily use at Chanteduc, Patricia and Walter Wells's farmhouse and cooking school in Vaison-la-Romaine. Each ladle is distinct, ranging from a generous full-bowled soup ladle down to a slender sauce ladle. The handles vary beautifully: one plain and reeded, another carrying scrolling foliate ornament, a third classically fiddle-shaped, and the smallest edged with fine beading. The bowls differ too — round, oval, and one with a softly scalloped rim — their silver plate worn to a warm, luminous patina. Patricia describes them fondly as "practical, attractive, useful." These ladles were paired with her beloved soupières throughout the years at Chanteduc, and the largest had a starring role at her famous Monday evening cooking classes, where Patricia served her soupe au pistou to students gathered around the table after a full day in the Provençal kitchen. Display them fanned out in a large ceramic bowl or earthenware crock on a kitchen sideboard, or keep them ready beside a tureen.