English Delft Flower Brick

Decorated with a bamboo and peony design. No restoration or cracks in the work.

Flower brick is a cuboid-shaped type of vase, designed to be seen with the long face towards the viewer. The traditional flower bricks are made of a ceramic material, usually, as with this one, made of delftware. The top surface has one large hole into which water is poured and multiple smaller ones in which flower stems are inserted, keeping the flowers in position. Flower bricks are thought to have been the most common vessel for flowers beside vases in the 18th century.