At least at my house, gravy boats are rarely used. For those occasions, we have always used a Noritake gravy boat that belonged to my grandmother. The only gravy boat in the three full place settings of china, (mine, my mother’s, and my grandmother’s) that take up cabinet space in my laundry room. I think I open those cabinets once, or maybe twice, a year.

This past year I bought the Mike Helke piece below, that I thought would work as a gravy boat, and look better with my growing collection of contemporary functional ceramics.

When I did a search for gravy boats, I learned these vessels go by many different names: gravy boat, sauce boat, sauciere, open sauce boat, small pitcher with beak, and low pitcher. Some have an attached bottom dish, others don’t. Some were probably intended for more than just gravy.