Description
Grandmother Odile kept her garden for the butterflies, never for the neighbors. Buddleia by the gate, lavender along the path, and a saucer of sugared water on the low stone wall where the yellow ones liked to dry their wings after rain. She knew each visitor by its markings and greeted them aloud, to the great amusement of the postman.
When her granddaughter moved to a city flat with no garden at all, Odile sent her off with this little heart-shaped box, a lone yellow butterfly resting on top. For when you need some sun, she wrote on the card in her slanting hand. It lives now on a bedside table beneath a reading lamp, holding a pair of pearl studs, and on grey mornings it does exactly what it was asked to do. Every so often the granddaughter sends a photograph of it home, propped against a vase of supermarket tulips.
Inside and out
- Heart-shaped box with a yellow butterfly alighting on top
- Measures 2 x 2 x 0.75 inches
- By Rochard
- Limoges porcelain, hand-painted in France
- Just the size for a ring or a pair of earrings
A sunny choice for Mother’s Day, a birthday, a get-well wish, or anyone who could use a little brightness on their dresser. It pairs beautifully with a pot of lavender for a gardener who has had to leave her garden behind.
