In many rural parts of Romania long ago, people used terracotta vessels for a multitude of everyday uses.
This antique terracotta bowl was, perhaps surprisingly, once used as a casserole dish.
Used to prepare and cook meals in such as meat stews, which included rabbit or other hunted game layered between varying strata of vegetables, this dish would have been then covered either with more of a heat resistant starch like potato or with a cloth dipped in animal fat to prevent the top of the casserole from burning.
Cracks can be seen slowly weaving through the bowl’s glaze like delicate spiderwebs from constant contact with flames, adding a touch of tenderness to this otherwise robust piece.
Two stout handles flank the peripheries of the antique bowl’s shoulders, exposed under a rimmed, wide mouth with a rustic, wavy pattern that adds yet another element of charm.
