Eggplant Vegetable Porcelain Limoges Box

One glossy eggplant, from the stem end down to its plump rounded base, makes up this entire box. It is hand-painted porcelain, shaped and decorated in Limoges, France, and it looks right at home beside a fruit bowl or a row of cookbooks.

Pride of the Potager

The French kitchen garden, the potager, has always given the aubergine a place of honor, and this piece treats it the same way. The rounded body and the stem at the top are painted by hand, so the shading shifts slightly from one box to the next.

Good Company on the Shelf

• Hand-painted porcelain from Limoges, France
• Sits naturally with tomato, pepper, artichoke or garlic boxes in a vegetable grouping
• Adds a bold, glossy shape to a shelf of smaller food pieces

From Garden Bed to Kitchen Sill

Place it on a windowsill above the sink, on an open kitchen shelf, or tucked among copper pots on a baker's rack. It suits the friend who grows her own vegetables, the cook who makes ratatouille every August, or anyone finishing a culinary class. A Mediterranean dinner party host would smile at it too.

It is a small, cheerful salute to one of summer's most handsome vegetables, and it never needs watering.