Three men and a baby

As I have previously written about a couple of the ladies I guess its time to tell you about some of the men in my life.

Two of the pieces live side by side in our hallway. The first, a petit Breton plate, was found early one morning at antiques fair. If you think it looks pretty beat up now, you should have seen it then: it was on a table surrounded by a dealers unpacked box’s, the dealer was nowhere to be seen, worse, though its vivid colors had caught my eye from across the room, what I hadn’t immediately noticed was that it was in three pieces ….. (As if being covered in glaze pops wasn’t enough!)After finding the dealer and some lively haggling (hadn’t he noticed it was broken?) I brought it home, had it restored and it has lived here ever since. I have several pieces with the petit Breton décor, but they are all standing up while this Breton is sitting, the colors in this plate have real ‘zing’ too. (like his owner he doesn't photograph well !)

The oriental gentleman was found in a mixed box of household china at a super little auction in Dorchester. The auction house only held sales when they had enough “effects”; there was never a catalog just a notice in the local paper. The venue was a small old war time dance hall which had no heat and the single toilet was outside. Many the morning I have been frozen there, but it was a friendly auction, (for one thing it was standing room only and we were standing in very close proximity to fellow bidders!) I hadn’t planned to bid on the box but as the morning wore on and there was time between the lots I had noted, I started taking more of an interest in the boxes closest to me, I liked the plate but didn’t think it was anything special – the box came up, no one else was interested, I made one bid and the lot was mine, it wasn’t until years later that I realized it was early Quimper……

The rather dapper man from Desvres came from an Antique fair near Peterborough; it was a question of him ‘speaking’ to me…oddly he reminds me of a well known dealer in Desvres. Can you guess who? I suspect that the figure is part of a series but I have only once seen a similar figure and it was much restored, so for now this fellow lives alone guarding some of the other Desvres in my collection

The Berthe Savigny baby brings a different set of memories – the first Quimper Club meeting I attended was in 2001 in Quimper and this piece was available to order, it was from a mold that had not been reproduced in recent years and the Club orders were among the first. The baby is sucking her thumb, just as my daughter did. It was on this trip that Lucy first suggested I get involved with the Club publication…….and just look where that lead…….

PS . You may be interested in this site: http://www.finehomedisplays.com/index.htm

They do some really neat display accessories - I just wish they shipped !! Other people come home from Quimper meetings with pottery, I come home with plate racks etc .......

Also do take a look at the new HB Henriot decors: http://www.hb-henriot.com/en/produits/index.php - the new designs are toward the bottom of the page