Cookie container - Underside: “MADE IN ISRAEL” / “L” (factory mark)

The container has a round base and an oval, conical form. The two raised sides are both perforated with a rectangular aperture through which a woven, willow handle is threaded and secured. The body of the off-white, porcelain container is decorated with vertical, dark blue stripes extending from the base to the middle of the container and continuing on the surface of the lid, from the middle to the knob. The knob has a droplet form with a blue-glazed depression in the upper plane. A delicate blue line marks the container rim.

This cookie container was manufactured at the Lapid Pottery Works in Israel. Immigrants to Palestine from Germany in the 1930s had a major influence on the development of Israel’s ceramics industry. In 1952, Dr. Bertha Rosenthal set up a section for hand-painted household ceramics in the Lapid factory in Tel Aviv-Jaffa. The art director was Elisabeth Cohen-Silberschmidt, who was also a German immigrant. This piece and other ceramics produced by the Lapid Pottery Works, from the 1950s until the 1970s, reflect international, modern design influences - from Scandinavia in particular.