a primary piece

In the early 1950s, the Pyrex primary colored mixing bowls appeared. With their appealing bright colors, they became a kitchen classic. My mother had a full set of these bowls, which she used intermittently. She kept them stored in a cabinet over the oven range hood, and I remember her climbing up on a step stool (she was short) and carefully taking down the one she needed. They nested in each other in graduated sizes: the smallest 0.5 qt blue, the 1.25 qt red, the 2.5 qt (very desirable!) green, and then the "mother of primary bowls" size-wise, the 4 qt yellow one. That particular set, which is intact, has a happy home with my sister in New York.

This yellow Pyrex mixing bowl came to me via another path--my mother-in-law gave it to me back in the late 1970s because, I recall, it was something she no longer wanted. Where did she get the bowl, and why did she only have one? (I never saw any others in her home.) This mixing bowl's solo history is an unknown, and I didn't think to ask while she was alive.

I photographed this bowl in its natural habitat for the past 20 something years, my kitchen cabinet near the oven. I like to use it as a serving piece as well as a mixing bowl--- the sunny color gives it a casual picnicky look.