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Henriot Quimper Petit Beurrier...Small
Butter Dish
Hand-painted in the intricate croisillé
pattern...
...is this adorable Henriot Quimper covered beurrier or butter dish. In the form of a traditional
double-handled basket, it is richly decorated with flowers, geometric
designs...
...and a biniou-playing petit breton.
Every inch of it is decorated...
...but then it's not very big...just 2.25 inches high and 2.75
inches in diameter.
Très mignon.
It is signed on the underneath
of the lid and on the bottom...Henriot Quimper France 147...a matched
item...
...meaning the lid and the bottom were made at the same time and painted
by the same artist...not always the case on a small piece after the 80 or
so years that have passed since it was made.
In excellent condition...there
are some bloops here and there and a few areas along the edge of the lid
where the glaze is thin...all original to its making...
...it may be pint-sized, but it's definitely a Quimper pottery treasure!
Porquier-Beau Scenes Bretonnes
"Plogonec" Tavern Scene
The plate has as a central motif a highly-detailed tavern scene...the original watercolor
painting was created by Alfred Beau for the Porquier factory and is
preserved in the archives of the Faïenceries de Quimper where it is
identified as "planche 28" and entitled Plogonec. The current
spelling of the town is Plogonnec...located some nine miles northwest of
Quimper.
It is a very convivial scene...the tavern owner pouring a drink for a
traveling patron...note the nineteenth century backpack he is sporting.
Everyone is happy to see him...another guest sits at a table on which
awaits a stoneware pitcher...the Porquier factory also made stoneware so
perhaps it's a case of a piece of Quimper pottery within a piece of
Quimper pottery!
 It
measures 9.375 inches in diameter and has been professionally
restored...an expert restoration done by a young artisan who
coincidentally worked from her studio at the Musée de la Faïence de
Quimper. The workmanship is fantastic and the appearance is absolutely
perfect!
It is marked on the back with the entwined P and B sans serif...a mark
that indicates a piece made between around 1872 and 1894.
Quimper Book-Form
Sécouette (Snuff Container)
A romantic "book"...this is a
vintage Quimper snuff in the form of a book. It is decorated with a
rooster on one side...
...and a golden fleur-de-lis on the other...
Snuff was used by both men and women throughout
nineteenth century Brittany and since the
containers...called sécouettes or tabatières...would thus be
handled and looked at often, they became perfect objects to give to a
loved one.
In Brittany, they were the
traditional gift for a birthday, engagement, wedding anniversary, or to
act as a token of affection.
The rooster on this one says it all...a good French lesson
on the use of the future tense...Quand ce coq chantera, Mon amour
finira...
...meaning...When this rooster sings, my love will end. And since this
rooster is never going to sing...he is after all, just a painting on
faïence...then the presenter is really saying that their love is
eternal...that it will never end.
The word Souvenir is painted along the spine of the
book as if it's the book's title. Another French lesson...the word
souvenir...does not necessarily indicate a casually-revered keepsake
as it does in English. It also connotes the memory of an event or
experience.
The snuff measures 2.8125 inches high, 2.125 inches wide
and .875 inches deep. It is unsigned, but guaranteed to be Quimper. It dates from the last quarter of the nineteenth
century. The colors are particularly good and condition is reasonable for
a piece that was used on a daily basis. There is one small chip on the
lower left
corner of the side with the fleur-de-lis that has been "blued-in".
Appearance is excellent.
Henriot Normandie Figure Designed by André Galland
Proudly wearing the traditional
costume of Normandy, this adorable petite normande is either an egg
merchant on her way to market or else she's planning on making a very
large omelet when she gets home!
She stands 5.75 inches high, 2.25 inches wide, and 2.375 inches deep. She
carries a basket filled with eggs on her left arm while holding her trusty umbrella
in her right hand.
She's had a bit of an altercation at some point...right in the
center of her coiffe in the front and underneath the back of the coiffe
are damaged areas...indented and filled with white glaze.
At first glance, they look like imperfections in the original molding, but
they are most likely unprofessional restorations. Still she is charming
and certain to add a bit of whimsy to your collection of Galland figures.
It is signed on the bottom
Normandie with the initials ag. It was made at the Henriot factory and
dates from around 1930.
André Galland (1886-1965) began
his career at the age of eighteen working as an illustrator for mainstream
French magazines and newspapers such as L'Illustration,
Le
Matin, and Le Petit Journal, but he also did drawings for children's
publications. He worked
for the French government during and after World War II and was the
illustrator for the proceedings of the Nurembourg Trials. He also
illustrated comics...bandes dessinées in French, most notably a
1950s series involving the exploits of Rocambole, who is best described as
one of the first super heros. His travel posters and his humorous pottery
are highly-collectible.
In
L'Encyclopédia des Céramiques de Quimper, Tome IV, page 297, Messieurs
Philippe Théallet and Bernard Jules Verlingue estimate that Galland first
began sending designs to the Henriot factory at the end of the
1920s-beginning of the 1930s. Galland provided many designs for pieces
featuring costumes and customs of not just Brittany, but Normandy, the
Basque region, Auvergne...even Algeria!
Henriot Automobile Plate...dated June 1927
This specially-commissioned piece was individually hand-painted at the
Henriot factory in June of 1927, making it a rare example of a dated piece
of Quimper pottery. Not a typical production piece, it was part of a
limited series of automobile-related designs made for La Crémaillère...a
Parisian publishing house. Perhaps La Crémaillère specialized in
publishing motor touring books, Michelin maps, or Michelin restaurant and
road guides for the traveler...that I don't know...whatever the reason for
the special commission, the plate is wonderful!
The project is believed to have been a continuation of an earlier
collaboration with the students at the prestigious Ecole des Beaux-Arts in
Paris. The central motif was designed by a "P. Mathonat" and consists of
a sleek and elegant car zooming through the countryside. Speed is
artistically implied as trees bend and dust billows in its wake. As J-P
pointed out in his memo...there's no driver and the car appears to be
colliding with a tree...vive artistic license!!!
It is entitled on the front ceux qui aiment à regarder
le paysage meaning "those who like to watch the countryside".
The colors and design are
fabulous; the plate measures 9.675 inches in diameter and is in excellent
condition with just a few teeny-tiny chips to the back edge that don't
show when the piece is displayed.
The
reverse is signed and dedicated on the back as shown in the photo above.
HB Quimper
Roi Gradlon
Coupe à Pied...René Quillivic Footed Dish with King Gradlon, Dahut,
and Morvarc'h
This decorative dish...not really meant for serving
food...but rather intended as an item of art pottery...is perfect for adding
a bit of Celtic excitement to an otherwise drab spot!
The interior has a rich,
multi-toned green glaze that serves as a perfect complement to the three-dimensional design on the sides. Throw in a handle in the form of a
horse's head and some bright gold accents and there you have it...a piece worthy of
René Quillivic!
Quillivic (1879-1969) was an
accomplished sculptor, ceramics designer, and a sort of muse for the HB
factory from the 1920s until 1962 when he last utilized the private art
studio that had been set up for him in the attic of the pottery.
This photo postcard of Quillivic in his studio was used as publicity by
the HB factory in the 1920s...
...and this Quimper street sign bears witness to Quillivic's importance to
the community.
The piece measures 8 inches wide and is 3.5 inches high including the
handle (2.875 inches high not including the handle), and 4.3125 inches
deep.
It is in mint condition...all of the gold glaze is
intact and scratch-free.
Popular in the period just after the end of World War II when
this piece was made, the use of a gold glaze required an additional step
and was, thus, reserved for more expensive examples...i.e. pieces of art
pottery rather
 than tablewares. One characteristic of the gold glaze...in addition to
it being
more expensive...is that it was also more fragile...putting the condition of this
example in the magnificent category!
At first glance, I thought the
handle was perhaps a dragon...often used as a symbol in Celtic art...but
knowing that Quillivic was well-versed in Breton lore, it finally hit me
that this is Morvarc'h...King Gradlon's magical horse...the horse that he
rode to safety when his spectacular city of Ys was submerged under the sea...
 ...other parts
of the motif suggest ocean waves; a fanciful depiction of King
Gradlon is on one side while the other has Gradlon's wayward
daughter Dahut!
The coupe is marked on the
bottom as shown...
HR Quimper Biniou-form Vide
Poche
I'm guessing that
this piece was originally intended to serve as a vide poche...literally
"empty pocket"...a small receptacle that sat by the bedside of les
elegants to hold the few trinkets that they daily carried around
either in their fur muff or their vest pocket.
Circa 1900, my how times have
changed! There isn't a night stand big enough to hold all the stuff I lug
around!
Today, it might be used to serve cocktail peanuts or M&Ms, but in my
humble opinion, it's really way too well-painted to be covered up with
anything! I say hang it on a wall or set it on a plate stand...the
decoration is gorgeous and simply too painterly to hide!
Featuring a handsome blond bombarde player nattily-attired in
generous culottes called bragou-bras, it is signed on the back HR
Quimper.
It measures 6.25 inches by 4.125 inches and it is in great condition...just three minute bits of glaze loss along
the edge and, as well, the back side of the upper ribbon has an area
of glaze loss.
I'd say that's not bad for being about 110 years old!
Malicorne Leroy-Dubois Crest of Brittany Plate
A magnificent
Malicorne plate from the Leroy-Dubois pottery, circa 1910. The Leroy-Dubois pottery
may have been short-lived (1899 to 1918), but its pieces were superb!
A close-up of the central motif shows how finely painted the crest is...
...and the floral border is just plain gorgeous!
The plate
measures 9.875 inches in diameter
...the border has some small glaze pops here and there and there is a
small, invisible restoration to the rim at "8 o'clock"...a
professional restoration that is, as
you can see, truly invisible. I wouldn't have known it was there if the
person we bought the plate from hadn't told us...appearance is perfect!
It's marked on the back with the signature of pieces made at Leroy-Dubois.
A great example of the Country French folk art charm of the vintage
faïence from Malicorne-sur-Sarthe!
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