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Peacock Motif HB Quimper Cider Pitcher

As featured in this month's The Town, The People, and The Pottery article, a great piece of Country French faïence that is both traditional and unusual. The form is definitely traditional...a cider pitcher...and the motif is unusual in that instead of a petit breton there is an equally proud peacock.

It is a generous size...8.5 inches high and 7 inches across handle to spout...and is in excellent condition...it even has its original lid!

Signed HB Quimper at the base of the side handle, it was made around 1900 and has the glorious colors and raised reds of that era.

Porquier-Beau Fountain and Basin Set


How fabulous is this?

From this issue's Memo from J-P, a Porquier-Beau fountain and basin. As J-P explained in his memo, you may see this type of ensemble being referred to as a lavabo, however, to be precise, that term is specific to the basin portion alone. Of course in the Breton language, this set would be called a feunteun ha  gwalc'houer, but fountain and basin is far more easier to type.

In the days of no indoor plumbing and thus no running water, this was intended to be attached to the wall to be filled with water from the well. A simple turn of the robinet or tap produced the water, with any  excess captured in the lower basin portion.

Everything about this piece is first class...no stinting on the decoration. It consists of three matching pieces...lid, fountain, and basin all of which have a more intricate than normal arabesque motif of two tones of blue on a yellow ground. Both the basin and fountain are accented with a band of blue three-leaf clovers on a yellow ground.


The central motif of the fountain portion is an Alfred Beau design entitled Mariés de Trégunc. The croisillé shell on the top corresponds perfectly with the croisillé shell surrounding the spigot.



The central motif of the basin features another Alfred Beau design...this one is entitled Environs en Quimper and is an endearing scene of a little petite bretonne playing with a dog.

The interior of the basin is painted with the crest of Brittany.

The measurements are as impressive as the décor: the fountain portion is 19.25 inches high, 10 inches wide, and 8 inches deep including the spigot...the basin is 13.75 inches wide, 6.25 inches high, and 9.675 inches deep.

Condition is good...There is one chip on the edge of the basin as well as several glaze skips to the edges of basin and one on the shell surrounding the robinet...those are skips,  typical in pieces of this age...they are not chips. Both the basin and the lid have been professionally restored at some point in their long history...the restoration on the interior portion of the basin has "yellowed" a bit, but as you can see, appearance is excellent! Both the fountain and the basin are marked with the entwined P and B with a serif, making them from 1894 to 1903.

HB Quimper Vase...Paul Fouillen Motif Décor

A charming petit breton decorates one side of this circa 1930 HB Quimper vase. He is wearing a distinctive pair of checkered pants and a purple vest as he plays his bombarde.

It measures 7.25 inches high, 3.875 inches wide, and 3.375 inches deep. There is a small chip on the front rim that has been touched up; it is visible only upon close inspection and as you can see by the photographs, it is not distracting.

The other three sides are painted with a colorful spray of ajonc.

The mark on the bottom reflects its era of production...the "morse code" oo along with the form number.

Spectacular HB Quimper Star-Form Jardinière

A truly spectacular piece, it's from the HB factory, circa 1900 and is simply gorgeous.

The computer doesn't do it justice; it measures a generous 11.75 inches high, 11.75 inches wide, and is 5.25 inches deep.

On one side, it is expertly decorated with a petit breton playing the biniou amidst floral spray accents...

...while the other side has a motif of a classic chapeau rond and a biniou in a field of ajoncs...

...the star-form on this side is also accented with colorful floral sprays.

The biggest problem is deciding which view is the "best".




The decoration is superb and the glaze colors are vibrant. Condition is excellent; It appears that there has been professional restoration to the feet, but it was an excellent job...so good that it's difficult to know for sure.

It is signed inside the jardinière as shown...HB Quimper.

This could very well become the favorite piece in your Quimper pottery collection!
 

HR Quimper Assiette à Huîtres...Oyster Plate

This shell-motif plate has six bow-topped, shell-shaped indentations alternating with blue, green, and golden-yellow striped shells. In the center is a circular indentation for lemon slices or sauce.

This sign for a restaurant/hotel located in Cancale...one of the picturesque towns along Brittany's Côte d'Emeraude...perfectly demonstrates the original purpose of this 8.875 inch diameter Quimper faïence oyster plate.

The center and four of the shell-shaped indentations are decorated with floral motifs and the remaining two shells have a petit breton in one and a petite bretonne in the other.


It is marked on the back as shown and dates from the Belle Epoque-Victorian-Edwardian days...circa 1900...when no festive meal was complete without an oyster course. It has the typical palette of that era of production with the deep cobalt blue and the "faded" reds. As you can see, the appearance is great, no chunks or hairlines, but it does have numerous small chips to the edges that have been "blued-in". 

 

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