One of a pair of my cherished Herend cachepots is in the Chinese Bouquet Pattern in raspberry pink. They grace our mantlepiece at Fox Hall and flank the English Staffordshire horse in the center. When the peonies and pink mountain laurel are blossoming in our garden, I adore arranging them in these cachepots.
There certainly is cachet to cachepots!
When my daughter received a cachepot as a wedding gift, she asked me what to call it for her thank-you note. “A planter?” she inquired. I told her it was a cachepot. I’ll never forget the dumbfounded look on her face. “A what? Mummy, is that one of your old-school southern terms? Looks like a planter to me!” Well, she is correct in the sense that it does hold plants! The correct term is the French word, cachepot (pronounced as cash-poe), which translates to “hide a pot” and, in particular, a flower pot.
A cachepot beautifully enhances plants and flowers and is displayed inside a house versus outside, as cachepots do not have any drainage holes. A pretty porcelain cachepot will instantly transform a ho-hum plant, cut flowers, or even flowering bulbs into an elegant adornment for any room in your house. The size of most cachepots are perfectly suited to grace tables, chests, coffee tables, and mantles. Planters and/or jardinieres are usually larger and placed upon the floor.
The more ornate a porcelain cachepot is, the happier it will be in a formal room. Antique and reproduction porcelain cachepots often feature very delicate designs and have gold embellishments, which are befitting and proper for a living room, on a dining room table, powder room, or a mantlepiece.
And on the other hand, a cachepot with streamlined, modern, and even whimsical designs made of various materials such as metal, wicker, lacquer, bamboo, or brass, work brilliantly when displayed in informal rooms such as libraries, kitchens, or garden rooms.
The next time you pop a plant into your cart while at the grocery store, such as an azalea, daffodil, hyacinth, or even an orchid, remember, it will appear more glamorous when you place the plant into a cachepot versus the standard plastic or mundane ceramic container they are sold in.
Buy in pairs! A diminutive pair of cachepots are perfect to enhance a mantlepiece. When filled with flowers from the garden, an orchid plant, a tender topiary, or a simple English ivy plant, a pair of smart cachepots are the perfect way to add symmetry on either side of the mantlepiece. Alternatively, one long, narrow, rectangular cachepot can be centered on the mantle, in a bookcase, or as a centerpiece on the dining room table.
Square cachepots work best on a mantlepiece because they sit easily on the narrow shelf. This French cachepot from Bernardaud, and sold at Scully & Scully, is the Le Gobelet du Roy. It is a reproduction but was originally ordered by Louis XVI in 1783 and is decorated with friezes of myrtle leaves and wild cornflowers entwined with ribbon. It is 4 ½” square and 6” high, so it can easily hold a sweet little plant or flowers from the garden.
Grandmillennial Tips:
When purchasing cachepots, as with any decorative accessory, consider the color and design scheme of the room. The cachepot and the flowers you choose to display within it need to be harmonious.
Buy in pairs whenever possible. A pair contributes to the symmetry of design within a room.
A cachepot, or a pair, is the perfect wedding or birthday gift. They are timeless and extremely adaptable to any room, at any time of the year.
Other uses for cachepots? They can be used to hold the silver flatware for buffet dinner parties, hide a scented candle, used as an alternative ice bucket, and depending on size, can hold a bottle of wine chilled with ice cubes. They can elegantly disguise just about anything that will fit inside! Want to serve ice cream at the dining room table? Place a pint into a cachepot to become the perfect serving vessel to disguise the ice cream container.
A hand-painted cachepot from Anna Weatherly features pink tulips and was inspired by the artisanal tradition of Hungary, where fine European porcelain with 24K gold accents highlights the design ever so quietly. It is 7 ½” in diameter and 6 ¼” high- the perfect size to pop in a store-bought plant.
Xx
Holly