Preserve Jars - Light Blue

About the Preserve Jars - Light Blue

French preserve jars in this pale blue-green glass were made in enormous numbers for domestic bottling, and the colour is not a design decision. It comes from iron impurities in the local sand, and it varies from batch to batch, which is why a shelf of them shows half a dozen shades rather than one. Held up to a window the difference is obvious; in a room it simply reads as depth.

The shapes follow the job. A wide shoulder and a narrow neck let the cook seal with wax or a rubber ring; the flat base kept them stable in a boiling pan; and the moulded seams running up the sides are the honest signature of a two-part mould rather than a defect. Many carry a maker's name or a capacity mark pressed into the glass near the base.

As objects they are versatile in a way modern glass is not. Singly they hold utensils, brushes or dried flowers. In a run of five or six along a shelf they turn into a light source, catching whatever comes through the window. They are dishwasher-safe in practice but hand washing keeps the surface bloom that old glass develops, and that bloom is a large part of why they look the way they do.

Jars are sold singly, and the colour varies enough between batches that we will not describe two as matching unless we have stood them side by side. For a shelf run, tell us how many you want and we will select them together. They are packed individually in transit; old glass is thinner than it looks and we would rather over-wrap than replace.

One thing worth knowing about old French glass: it is thinner and softer than modern glass, and it will not survive a sudden temperature change. Do not pour boiling water into one, do not take one from a cold windowsill to a hot radiator, and do not put one in an oven under any circumstances. Treated as display glass and washed by hand in warm water, they last indefinitely.