Heinen Delft Blue vase Milk can forest birds

This Heinen Delft Blue vase, "Milk Can with Forest Birds," is shaped like an iconic old milk can. In the first half of the 20th century, it was a typical image of the Dutch farming identity. The landscape was dotted with small farms where milking was a daily activity. Dairy farmers would place their iron milk cans in clusters along the roadside, where they would be picked up by trucks to take them to the dairy. Sometimes the milk had already soured before it even arrived at the factory, and occasionally, a drowned kitten was found inside, having tried to nibble on the milk. The idyllic image of weathered steel milk cans at the farm driveway quickly disappeared from 1962 onward, with the advent of the refrigerated milk tank. Only in one town in the Netherlands were the original milk cans still in use until 1999, when this dairy also stopped accepting milk cans. The vase, shaped like a milk can, is decorated all around with Delft blue flowers, another recognizable icon of the Netherlands. Colorful woodland birds are hidden on the blossom branches. A unique vase that brings together a wealth of Dutch history.