Nautilus Vase

There are shapes in nature the hand can never quite leave alone, and the spiral of a nautilus is chief among them. Found in Carpentras, a mid-century vase that copies it exactly, swirled brown and cream and glazed smooth. Shells like it have been turned into vessels since the Renaissance, when rare spiraled nautilus were mounted in silver and kept in cabinets of curiosities beside coral and ostrich eggs. Sylvie fills it with white peonies and stands it on the table, where the flowers lean out toward the light.

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