[1][2] Traditional flower bricks are made of a ceramic material, usually delftware or other tin-glazed earthenware.
[3][4][5][6][7] The top surface has a large hole into which water is poured, and a number of smaller holes into which flower stems are inserted, so that the flowers are kept in position.
These vessels are a sub-type of the boughpot or tulipiere, which have more rounded shapes.
[7] Some scholars suggest that flower bricks may have been used as quill holders and inkwells during the 17th century, although this is debated.
[6] There are few surviving pictorial representations of these objects in use during the 17th or 18th century.