Mid-Century French Hand Painted Faience Centerpiece Signed Henriot Quimper

$2,200

About

This elegant and colorful antique cachepot was sculpted in Brittany, France, circa 1960. The uniquely oblong shaped planter with double- bagpipe handles, and is decorated with hand painted center medallions set inside a crown and leaf motif frame in high relief. One side is decorated with the Brittany coat-of-arms held by dogs, the other with a crest and sheep figure surrounded with floral embellishments. The large “Decor Riche” centerpiece is in excellent condition with vivid colors in the blue, green and mustard palette, and is signed Henriot Quimper on the bottom.
Quimper pottery has a long history. Tin-glazed, hand painted pottery has been made in Quimper, France since the late seventeenth century. The earliest firm, founded in 1685 by Jean Baptiste Bousquet, was known as HB Quimper. Another firm, founded in 1772 by Francois Eloury, was known as Porquier. The third firm, founded by Guillaume Dumaine in 1778, was known as HR or Henriot Quimper. All three firms made similar pottery decorated with designs of Breton peasants and sea and flower motifs. The Eloury (Porquier) and Dumaine (Henriot) firms merged in 1913. Bousquet (HB) merged with the others in 1968. The group was sold to a United States family in 1984. More changes followed, and in 2011 Jean-Pierre Le Goff became the owner and the name was changed to Henriot-Quimper. The French firm has been called Societe Nouvelle des Faienceries de Quimper HB Henriot since March 1984. Pottery was made in Quimper when the city was part of the Roman Empire, long before tin-glazed pottery was being made.
Measures: 17″W x 8″D x 8.75″H.

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