The Nantucket Charm Edit
Blue & White Ginger Jars & Vases
Chinoiserie jars, porcelain vases, garden stools and the lamps that make a room look collected.
Nothing makes a room read Nantucket faster than blue and white porcelain.
It is the cheapest way to buy a color story. Three jars in graduated heights on a mantel, one big vase of hydrangeas on the island, a pair of ginger jar lamps flanking the sofa — that is the whole formula, and it works in a cottage or a harborfront living room. Start with the jars, add the lamps when you are ready to spend, and keep the blues in one family.
Start Here
Ginger Jars & Temple Jars
The lidded classic. Buy three in different heights before you buy anything else in this guide — a mantel, a console and a kitchen island are all solved with one order.
Home Decor
Blue & White Porcelain Ginger Jars (Set of 6, Mixed Patterns)
Six lidded ginger jars in mixed chinoiserie patterns — peonies, plum blossom, scrolling vines — the whole collected mantel or bookcase in one delivery. Group by threes on a stack of coffee-table books, drop a single hydrangea stem into the tallest, and the room is done.
Home Decor
Decorative Chinoiserie Ceramic Ginger Jar with Lid, 18" — Blue & White
A generous 18-inch blue-and-white ginger jar hand-painted with peonies and birds — the statement centerpiece I'd fill with white roses and eucalyptus on a dark wood console for that instant Palm Beach–meets–Nantucket polish.
Home Decor
KuJaRen Blue & White Chinoiserie Ginger Jar Vase (15" H)
A tall eggshell-porcelain ginger jar hand-painted with a delicate blue interlocking lotus vine — the classic blue-and-white centerpiece I fill with an armful of white and blue hydrangeas on the kitchen island for that Southern-Living-cover moment.
Home Decor
White & Gold Trim Ceramic Ginger Jar Vase with Lidded Top
A tall ivory ceramic ginger-jar vase with hand-painted gold-drip vertical stripes and a matching lidded top — the sculptural vessel I'd fill with towering cherry-blossom branches and creamy peonies for a marble kitchen island centerpiece.
Home Decor
Chinoiserie Blue & White Ginger Jar
The piece that ties a mantel together — my grandmother kept one on either side of the clock and I've never seen a room that wasn't better for it.
For Hydrangeas
Chinoiserie & Porcelain Vases
Open-mouth vases for cut stems. Narrow necks hold a hydrangea head upright with almost no arranging, which is the entire trick behind those effortless-looking arrangements.
The Upgrade
Ginger Jar Lamps
A pair of chinoiserie lamps is the single highest-impact purchase on this page. Flanking a bed, a console or a sofa, they set the whole room's color story after dark.
Indoor Furniture
26" Coastal Ceramic Table Lamps with White Drum Shades (Set of 2, Blue Accent)
Useful Porcelain
Garden Stools & Drum Stools
Extra seating, a drink table, a bath-side perch for towels. Blue and white pierced porcelain works indoors and on a covered porch.
Fill Them
Hydrangeas & Faux Stems
What actually goes in the jars — blue and white mopheads that look real from two feet away and never wilt.
Florals & Art
Blue Hydrangea Centerpiece in White Wood Box — Long Farmhouse Dining Arrangement
Florals & Art
3D Hydrangea Oil Painting — White & Blue Blooms on Sage, Textured Canvas
Before You Order
How to Style Blue & White Porcelain
- 1. Odd numbers only. Three or five jars per grouping. Even numbers read like a store display.
- 2. Vary the height. At least three inches between neighboring pieces, tallest set slightly back.
- 3. Same blue, different patterns. Mix prunus, floral and pagoda motifs, but keep the blues in one family.
- 4. Cut hydrangeas short. Blooms should rest on the lip of the jar, stems hidden entirely.
- 5. Buy lamps in pairs. A single chinoiserie lamp looks accidental; a pair looks decorated.
- 6. Repeat it across rooms. One jar in the entry, one on the mantel, one in the kitchen ties a whole floor together.
Questions We Get
Ginger Jar Questions
- How many ginger jars should I group together?
- Odd numbers, always — three or five. Vary the height by at least three inches between neighbors and let the tallest jar sit slightly behind the others rather than dead center.
- What size ginger jar for a mantel or console?
- On a mantel, the tallest jar should read about one third the height of whatever hangs above it — usually 12 to 18 inches. On a console, an 18 to 22 inch jar anchors the end; keep the middle low so the mirror still reflects.
- Do the patterns have to match?
- No, and matched sets look like a catalog. Keep the blue in the same family — cobalt with cobalt, softer delft with delft — and let the motifs differ. Prunus, floral and pagoda patterns sit together happily.
- What flowers go in a ginger jar?
- Hydrangeas, full stop. Blue or white mopheads cut short so the blooms rest on the lip. Faux hydrangeas work beautifully here because the jar's narrow neck hides the stems entirely.
- Are ginger jar lamps worth it?
- They are the highest-impact piece in this whole category. A pair of chinoiserie lamps on a console or flanking a bed does more for a room than any amount of small decor, and they read expensive from across the room.
- Where do you put a porcelain garden stool?
- Beside a tub, at the end of a sofa as a drink table, in an entry under a console, or outside on a covered porch. It is the most useful 18 inches of porcelain you can buy.
Keep Going
See Them in a Room
The Coastal Cottage Styling Guide
A 12-page Nantucket-inspired playbook — hydrangea-blue rooms, weathered cedar curb appeal, and the pieces I'd buy again tomorrow. Plus the weekly Sunday finds. Free, no spam.
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