A hand-painted stoneware garden bell by New York ceramicist Maggy Ames. The bell is dome-shaped, glazed in a pale sandy white with a raw dark stoneware rim at the base and a series of hand-painted vertical marks running around the body -- unhurried and slightly irregular in the way that only a painted mark can be. A black link chain suspends the bell from above and a small cast iron fish hangs below as the clapper, giving the whole thing a quiet wit without tipping into precious. Hang it outside where the wind can find it, or inside a doorway where it will catch a breeze and announce whoever comes through. The fish clapper gives it a gentle, resonant tone rather than a sharp ring. There is only one.

• 6" h  x  4 d
• Stoneware