Later in the nineteenth century, Wedgwood promoted a somewhat gimmicky teapot with the label "simple yet perfect." The phrase comes to mind when one is challenged to describe the much earlier "Egyptian" shape creamer.

The body of the creamer is a simple bowl form that invites one to hold it in the palm of the hand. The spout is well defined. Two features give it a unique identity. First a straight-sided band wraps around the bulge of the body; its edges crisply, but subtly, interrupt the otherwise smooth profile. Second is the handle which in comparison seems almost extravagant--rising higher than it needs to at a right angle, then curving to rejoin the body with a barely noticed decorative curl and a bit of foliage detail.

Simple, yet perfect.

Wedgwood referred to the shape of this petite basalt creamer as their "Egyptian" shape. Robin Reilly in Wedgwood, The New Illustrated Dictionary notes that the shape was introduced for the wares that Wedgwood ornamented with his intriguing, and ultimately amusing, pseudo-Egyptian hieroglyphs, but the pottery went on to employ the form in a variety of dry bodied stonewares. One might even discover it in glazed earthenware versions.

Today we are likely to see the simplicity of the shape as the product of some modernist designer with perhaps just a hint of the classic tradition in mind.