Allium Stoneware Milk Jug & Sugar Bowl 300ml Set of 3 - Beige

This is a milk jug and a lidded sugar bowl in beige stoneware, sold as a set of three with a small bamboo spoon for the sugar. Both pieces carry the same hand-decorated pattern: scalloped bands at the rim and the base, a fine line around the middle and a row of long, tapering brushstrokes crossing it. The jug is 11cm tall and 9cm across, with a pinched pouring lip and a body that narrows at the waist before it swells again towards the base. The sugar bowl is 12cm tall and 9.5cm across, plump and rounded, with a pointed knob for lifting the lid.

Milk and sugar are the pair most tables need at every pot of tea or round of coffee, and here they match. At 9cm across, the jug is a table jug for milk or cream rather than a large serving jug. The sugar bowl stands beside it at much the same height, so the two sit together on a tray. The bamboo spoon can rest in the bowl with its handle showing at the edge of the lid, ready whenever needed. Bring them out for afternoon tea, a weekend breakfast at the kitchen table or coffee after dinner with friends. Between uses they are pretty enough to stay out on an open shelf or a dresser.

Stoneware is fired at a high temperature, which gives it a dense, hard-wearing body that suits everyday use. The pattern on each piece is decorated by hand, so the brushwork varies a little from one set to the next and yours will have its own differences. Care is easy: the set goes in the dishwasher and the microwave, though it is not for the oven. We like to set the jug and the sugar bowl on a wooden board with plain cups and a linen napkin, and let the hand-decorated pattern do the work.

What comes in the set?

You receive three pieces: a milk jug, a sugar bowl with its lid and a small bamboo spoon for the sugar. The styling props shown are not included.

How big are the milk jug and the sugar bowl?

The milk jug is 11cm tall and 9cm across, and the sugar bowl is 12cm tall and 9.5cm across, so the pair stand at much the same height.

What is the capacity?

The capacity given is 300ml. The maker does not say whether that figure belongs to the jug or the sugar bowl, so we have not assigned it to either piece.

Can it go in the dishwasher and the microwave?

Yes. The set goes in the dishwasher and the microwave, which keeps everyday washing up simple. It does not go in the oven, so keep it for the table.

What material is it?

The milk jug and the sugar bowl are stoneware, a dense, hard-wearing ceramic, and the little spoon is bamboo. The pattern on both pieces is decorated by hand.

Is every set identical?

Each set carries the same pattern of scalloped bands and tapering brushstrokes, but because it is decorated by hand the brushwork varies a little, so no two sets are exactly alike.