Betschdorf’s Blue-and-Gray Stoneware
By Sharon Hudgins • Photographs Courtesy Sharon Hudgins
I’ve been crazy about blue-and-gray stoneware ever since my first trip to Germany, a long time ago. It was love at first sight: At a restaurant near the Rhine River, the local white wine was served in a pretty little handmade stoneware pitcher painted with a simple floral design in dark cobalt blue. I immediately wanted to know where that pitcher was made and how I could get one for myself. And I soon learned that salt-glazed stoneware of this type was produced at several potteries in the Rhineland.
That was the start of an infatuation (some might call it an addiction) which continues to this day. My personal collection of blue-and-gray stoneware now numbers dozens of pieces, displayed on the fireplace mantle, arranged on shelves, sitting on kitchen counters, and tucked away in china cabinets. Even though I have plenty of this pottery, it seems that I can’t pass up buying…just one more piece.
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