Vase Milk Churn Canal Houses - Ceramic - 30 cm

This large vase is shaped like an iconic old milk churn. During the first half of the 20th century it was a typical representation of the farmer’s identity of the Netherlands. The landscape was covered with small farms, where milking the cows was a daily priority. The dairy farmers poured their fresh milk into the steel milk churns and placed them on the side of the road. A special milk cart stopped at all the farms along the way to collect the milk churns and deliver them at the nearby milk factory. Sometimes the milk was sour before it reached the factory and occasionally they found a drowned cat inside, which fell in while it tried to drink from the milk. The idyllic image of the weathered steel milk churns by the side of the road, quickly disappeared from 1962, when the refrigerated milk tank made its debut. Only in one town in the Netherlands could farmers still hand in their milk churns at the factory until 1999 when the last milk churn was accepted. The vase in the shape of a milk churn is decorated all around with Delft blue canal houses, another recognizable icon of the Netherlands. Colorful birds are resting on a lantern post, observing the busy citylife. A special vase in which a lot of Dutch history comes together.