Ed Langbein Melon Bowls

At first glance, they could be mistaken for the real thing — halved cantaloupes set out on the table, textured to mimic the raised, netted skin of the fruit. It’s only on closer look that the trick reveals itself: these are ceramic, designed by American industrial designer Ed E. Langbein and manufactured in Italy , part of his celebrated fruit-and-vegetable collections from the mid-20th century.

Italian ceramicists have long delighted in this kind of visual play: lemons, artichokes, cabbages, and melons rendered so faithfully in clay that they blur the line between still life and tableware. Stacked together on a table, these bowls do exactly that: a small piece of Italian summer, ready to serve fruit, nuts, or nothing at all.

Langbein made a career of this kind of visual sleight of hand. Working out of his company, Edward E. Langbein Giftware in Brooklyn , he designed and hand-painted tableware manufactured in Italy from the 1930s through the 1950s , and his whimsical, trompe l’oeil pieces — cantaloupes, watermelons, potatoes, asparagus, coconuts — earned him a place among the era’s design elite. His work was featured in seven Museum of Modern Art exhibitions  and in the 1957 Brooklyn Museum exhibit “Table Settings: The Old With The New,” alongside Russel Wright, Raymond Loewy, and Eva Zeisel .

They're a small, playful piece of American design history, now finding their way back onto tables that appreciate a bit of wit with their craftsmanship.

Sold in sets of four, two sets are available. 

Sourced in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

Dimensions: 6''D, 2.25''H