Pottery Barn

I did a little trade for a bag full of pots and figurines on Facebook Marketplace. I haven’t had a chance to do a deep dive into the pieces but these two are the most interesting. Pictured above is a hand painted pot signed J. Spyropoulos. I googled the name in search of similar pieces and found that there was a Janis Spyropoulos who was actively making reproductions of museum pieces in the 1960s.

According to listings I found online, this particular J Spyropoulos specialized in numbered terra cotta pieces based on classical pieces. Most of these listings are fairly small and portable indicating that they were made for the tourist trade. My theory is that making these things fun-sized allowed the artist to decorate things more efficiently to make your wares financially competitive with mass-produced souvenirs.

Small souvenirs are beautiful for other reasons—including the fact that they don’t take up much room in your luggage.

This wee weed pot was made by Rob O’Neill Bunratty Ireland Pottery. It looks like it dates to the 1980s. This studio was situated in Bunratty Folk Park — a collection of houses and shops meant to recreate typical 19th century Irish village life. Stylistically, this bud vase is not representative of any designs of the 1800s. The whole idea of a weed pot — a vase meant to hold a single flower—is more of a mid 20th century modern concept. I have used them in the past to display my feather collection or some dried grasses.

These small ceramics tell nice stories. And they help subsidize artists, but once you get them back home, they are awkward to display (and they require so much dusting). If I didn’t already have so many tchotchkes laying around, I would utilize the pot at a catch all (these pieces are not particularly valuable so I would try and use them) and the vase to display even more feathers.