Vintage French White Duck Terrine – Ceramic Pâté Dish with Steam Vent | French Kitchenware

A wonderfully characterful vintage French ceramic duck terrine, beautifully modelled in the form of a resting duck and finished in a simple creamy-white glaze.

The removable lid forms the entire upper body of the duck, with beautifully moulded feather and wing detailing giving the piece its wonderfully sculptural appearance. Lift the duck-shaped lid away and beneath is a generous oval terrine dish, originally intended for preparing and serving traditional French pâtés and terrines.

One of our favourite details is the small steam vent positioned discreetly beneath the duck's tail. Far from being a flaw, this is an intentional and practical part of the design. During cooking, the vent allows excess steam and moisture to escape from beneath the lid, helping prevent condensation from making the terrine overly wet while it cooks.

It's a wonderful reminder that these decorative pieces weren't simply made to look beautiful – they were designed as practical pieces of French kitchenware.

Today it makes a fabulous decorative addition to a French country or farmhouse kitchen. Display it on an old dresser or open shelving amongst ironstone, confit pots, wooden boards and other pieces of collected kitchenalia.

The understated white glaze also makes this an exceptionally versatile piece. It works just as beautifully in a neutral contemporary country kitchen as it does surrounded by traditional French brocante finds.

Dimensions

Approx. 23 cm long × 17 cm wide × 17 cm high

From the Brocante Trail

Animal-shaped terrines are one of those wonderfully distinctive pieces of French kitchenware that combine practicality with a sense of humour and decoration.

Designed for preparing and presenting pâtés and terrines, their elaborate lids transformed an otherwise ordinary cooking vessel into something that could be brought directly to the table.

Today these pieces have become increasingly popular as decorative kitchen collectables, particularly amongst lovers of French country, farmhouse and brocante interiors.

This lovely white duck would look fantastic sitting amongst old French pottery, ironstone and kitchenalia – or could make the beginning of a collection of traditional animal terrines.

Every treasure has a story. This one found us on the Brocante trail. Now it’s waiting to become part of yours.