Not quite the Last Post by QCI President Gaynor.

Earlier in the year I submitted a post called ‘Last Look’ this was mainly pictures of my collection prior to having some work done on our house which included a small extension…….
It had taken a total of 3 years to get planning permission to do this work with several plans being rejected and many changes along the way…..

The work commenced at the end of March, and at various times we were without a sink or hot water…not much fun….especially when everything is covered with layers of dust.
For several weeks I was washing up in a bowl set upon a table under a gazebo in the garden, it seemed endless…however we love the new space we have created, so it was worth it

The downside is that even after all this work I have less space for my collection, so I have had to be ruthless, lots of items are in the loft in boxes: we want to keep this space light and airy so it’s a case of ‘less is more’.




On display on the dresser are a set of re issued plates by Creston (which I have owned for about eight years but never displayed) and above them the Pornic plates decorated with birds that my parents gave me.
On the next shelf sit my favourite figural pieces and on the top the old lady is joined by a mere youngster….with a few children between them.


On the other side of the room more traditional Quimper décor, takes pride of place.
Bretons mix with Normans after years of being segregated!
On the lowest shelf are works by Quimper artist Brisson, and on the top of the shelves are Desvres pieces.


I have added a couple of pieces, most recently a couple of ‘trial’ plates and a tiny Fouillen box






At last I have somewhere to display my Valerie le Roux pieces, including a poster which was much admired by the picture framer. Valerie has a studio in Concarneau and shares a building with the family creperie, well worth a visit if you are the area.
(Next year the Quimper Club meeting is in Quimper and a fabulous program is ‘in the works’. Why not join us there? )




In the kitchen a new niche holds a few Ivoire Corbeille pieces, and beneath them a couple of cockerels and a hen.


As the year draws to a close, so too my term as President of the Quimper Club comes to an end – I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all those that have volunteered their time and expertise to Club and particularly to Maggie who not only had the imagination to start the Quimper Club blog but has run it for the past two years.
We have enjoyed a stellar variety of posts ever since the blog started and that is entirely due to her tireless work. She has dedicated countless hours to making sure that the blog runs smoothly and has interesting posts that keep us all checking in to read and enjoy the world of Quimper pottery. She has a true volunteers heart!

I know I speak for many Quimper blog readers when I say a wholehearted thank you to her.

Merci!

Lastly, I'd like to take the opportunity to wish all of you a Merry Christmas and the very Happiest of New Years!

A bientot

Mini QCI rendevous in Brest, Brittany.

This past week saw the Thierry-Lannon December Quimper auction take place at l'Espace Port de Plaisance de l'Hotel des Ventes.

We met up with Dale, Anne-Marie & Judy beforehand for lunch, which was a lively affair as we caught up with each others news and reviewed this years QCI meeting in Savannah with Dale who hadn't been able to attend.
Dale is the 1st VP elect, and his main responsibility, from January 1st, will be the planning of future annual meetings.

We got the inside track on his ideas for meetings in 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015!
I could share this information with you here but then I'd have to kill you.
I'm sure it won't be long before you're hearing it from Dale and the rest of the new Board in 2011.
There were some lovely items up for sale during the auction and prices were very reasonable.

One treasure that appealed was this large melonnière with swan neck handle, finely hand painted with the figurine of a lady dressed in the traditional costume of Normandie, carrying an umbrella (of course) and assorted floral decors.

This Henriot Quimper piece was originally produced in the 1940's, as a holiday souvenir to be sold in the seaside town of Le Tréport, and now, fittingly, it's back home in Normandy.
As we were preparing to leave the auction house I was approached by a young French man, a QCI blog follower who had also attended the auction.
Imagine! He had some very kind and complimentary things to say about the blog, too.
He mentioned that he finds our posts very informative overall, always enjoys seeing our collections and learning about the variety and history of faience from other collectors.
I didn't catch his name and he isn't a member of the QCI, yet (!) but I believe he plans on joining in 2011 in order to meet up with us all again next year at the annual meeting in Quimper.
Just think, if we all recruited a new member from time to time in this way the membership would soar!

Sunday Favourites Rerun with Chari.

For Chari's Sunday Rerun  @ Happy to Design this week I'm sharing once again a wonderful post about Porquier Beau plates byJudy D.
I will be lucky enough, next week, to attend this years auction and after browsing the catalogue I know that there is a little something that I would like to add to my ever growing collection of Normandy related Quimper souvenirs.
Wish me luck. I'll be blogging about our trip to Brest on our return.

December 2009 - It would appear that the market for Porquier Beau botanical pieces, particularly plates, is having something of a comeback. At yesterday's auction, there was a splendid series of early PB botanical plates – not only did they have the blue intersecting P and B, but they also had PB impressed in the clay – and there was much interest and a lot of bidding. There were two major bidders on the phone for the whole series (and one in particular now has some very nice additions to his/her collection!), and at times there were as many as four phones going. The glaze on these plates was exceptionally good, as was the quality of the painting. They all came from the same collection, but when and how that collection was constituted was never mentioned. (Sometimes you can figure out where some pieces come from, and other times it remains a mystery. It is very bad form to ask!)

The estimates ranged from 1000 to 2500 euros, and almost every piece went over the estimate. Here are some of the winning bids ... gavel price (not including the buyer's fee).

My personal favorite – I like the snail (but only on this plate; I do not want to see him in my garden) – 1150 euros.

This plate has a splendid pineapple as well as two insects – 2300 euros.

A bird with a red crest, a rather exotic decor – 3200 euros.

A very nice pair of beetles, called scarabs – 2250 euros.

And this thrush was the high point of the sale of PB plates – 3700 euros.

This butterfly is a lovely blue one – 2700 euros.

And the seahorse was the lone denizen of the watery depths represented in this sale; he is rarely seen on the market – 3100 euros.






My thanks to Thierry-Lannon & Associates for letting me take and use photos of this sale!


We'll be making a quantum leap of about 50 or so years into other cultures for the next auction ... stay tuned!

Vehicle-Free and Loving It…by Adela Meadows

Ahhh…the life of an antiques dealer…after spending many years traveling across the U.S. in a fifty-one foot long rig…a motor home for us with an attached cargo trailer for the antiques…it feels sooooooo good to be vehicle-free! At least that’s our status when we are in Paris.

We walk everywhere for most things…
…but the Parisian subway…called le métropolitain…or métro for short…is never more than a couple of blocks away and, with its fourteen different lines crisscrossing beneath the city, it’s a very convenient option. The stations are a world within themselves…art exhibits, cooking demonstrations by Michelin-starred chefs, scores of daily concerts by talented musicians…the sanctioned musicians in the Paris métro must first successfully go through a series of auditions, after which they are assigned to the various stations based upon their level of proficiency…and of course, traveling by the métro gives one the opportunity to catch up on all the latest fashion trends…
…Nope, I’ve heard that supposedly the big shoulders of the ‘80s are back, but I really don’t see myself wearing anything like this little number any time soon.

Should we want to travel a little farther afield, longer distances are handled via the train…only one hour and twenty-three minutes and I’m eating a gauffre in Brussels…

…hmmm…decisions, decisions…a plain gauffre is good, but one with strawberries and cream is so much better…

…a trip to Rennes, the capital of Brittany, currently takes two hours and eight minutes…but higher-speed rails are being installed and it will soon take even less time! For a longer journey, Jean-Pierre hops into his travel bag and it’s all aboard for the overnight sleeper to Venice, Italy…and to think it used to take us three days of practically non-stop driving just to get to Texas!

The opening of the railway line connecting Quimper with the rest of the world was a pivotal moment in the region’s history…
…and as can be expected, train travel was immortalized in Quimper faïence.

The railway company effectively advertised the virtues of Brittany and the outside world was suddenly not so far away. To the newly-industrialized population, the previously isolated Bretons were deemed to be quaint and soon hoards of artists and voyagers came to paint and gawk respectively.

By the time the automobile was invented, Quimper was considered to be  relatively cosmopolitan …kings and queens and heads of state had visited and paid their respect.

Like most inventions suddenly introduced to rural societies, the Bretons were frightened of the automobile at first…

…but it wasn’t long before the townsfolk of Quimper began to embrace the horse-less carriage. And the newfangled contraption did not escape the attention of the potters in Quimper…here are some examples…


…an HR version…


…a sporty 1930s Henriot convertible…a pièce unique by Emile Compard (1900-1977).

Also from the ‘30s, a faïence bank in the form of a racing car by the HB factory


…this sports car raced out of the Henriot factory in June of 1927

The potteries in Malicorne were right in there as well…this racing car is by La Faïencerie Paul Lecomte…
 
…one of a series that were used to promote the famous “24 hours” automobile race at nearby Le Mans.

By the 1950s, the success of the automobile as a common mode of transportation created worldwide consternation regarding the adaptability of traditional headgear…across the United States, men and women alike began to stop wearing hats…

…and, of course, the same was true of Brittany!
 

 










Flash forward and vehicles continue to get smaller and smaller, especially here in France…a fact that formed part of our decision to hoof it everywhere…not wearing a hat was one thing, but what could poor Mark do about his long legs…not to mention no room for Jean-Pierre!

November is Photo Month...by Adela Meadows

In Novembers of even-numbered years, Paris celebrates photography with Le Mois de la Photo. It’s a month filled with special expositions, photographic events, and lots of gallery showings…all centered on photography. This time around, Mark and I both had our photographs selected for exhibitions…he is the official photographer in the family…but after all these years, I guess a wee bit of osmosis has served to somewhat improve my efforts.

Brittany is very photogenic and was the subject of the special exhibit at a previous Salon de la Photo. But the exhibit was not about Brittany today…instead the images were wonderful early color photographs of traditionally-dressed Bretons as they went about their daily activities. The photos were intended to provide a sneak peek of an exposition that was held at the Albert Kahn Museum until July of this year.

From 1909 to 1931, Albert Kahn…a wealthy French banker and pacifist…financed an ambitious project that he called “Archives of the Planet”. His goal was to document humanity by securing color photographs of disappearing cultures spread across the four corners of the globe. Kahn’s teams of photographers traveled to over fifty different countries and eventually more than seventy-two thousand images of far-flung places were amassed.

Here is one of the images of Brittany…

…it dates from the 1920s.

Kahn’s were not the first photographs of the Brittany region. For that I have to dig into our archives and find some images that we took of an exhibit that was held in 2000 at the Musée Départemental Breton in Quimper.

Here’s a photograph of market day in Lannion in the 1850s…

…and Quimper’s rue Kéréon as it looked one hundred and sixty years ago…
 
Here’s a vintage view of the Renaissance fountain in the central square of the town of Guingamp…
…and here’s a recent photograph of that very same fountain…

Chateaubriand’s castle in Combourg then…

…and now…

An upstream view of Quimper’s Cathedrale Saint-Corentin then…

…and now…
 
Here’s what Place Saint-Corentin looked like in the 1850s…

The building in the center…Delamon Hôtel du Lion d’Or…was a prestigious hotel that also served as an agent for the coach service connecting Quimper with Brest…this photograph pre-dates the 1863 arrival of the railway to Quimper.

That same building today…

…provides inspiration for anyone who may mistakenly think that they don’t have room for any more plates!

More Word Games…by Adela Meadows

The word umbrella comes from the Latin umbra meaning “shaded”. The French term is much more succinct…parapluie…meaning ”for the rain”. The Breton word for umbrella is equally pragmatic…disglavier…originating from their term for rain, which is glav or glaveier depending upon the particular dialect. In Brittany that’s what an umbrella is for…to provide protection from the rain, not to protect from the sun…for that you would need a disheolier.

Whatever the term, to have an umbrella in nineteenth century rural Brittany was an important status symbol…the petite bretonnes in particular were justifiably proud of their chic and practical store-bought accessory.

The Quimper potters looked to the daily comings and goings of the community for inspiration and, thus, it was only natural that umbrellas found their way into their designs…

both as a form…

…in this case, an HB wall pocket in the shape of an umbrella…

and in the decorative motifs…
 
…this HB plate features a petite bretonne with her trusty umbrella…

 
…and this HB vase has a similar scene…just different costumes…the woman on the plate wears the traditional costume of someone from the Fouesnantaise commune and the petite bretonne on the vase is from Quimper.

During the 1920s, the HB factory produced a line of items that celebrated some of the other regions of France.

It actually rains more in Nice in the south of France than it does in Quimper and, perhaps to counteract Brittany’s reputation for being rain-soaked, some of the pieces in the Provinces Françaises series depict umbrella-toting paysans from other regions …

Here’s a gentleman from Auvergne…

…and representing Normandy, a lovely petite normande…

…both clutching their umbrellas as they head off to market..

Their umbrellas all seem to be neatly furled, but mine is soon going to be opened and put to good use…as a soft November rain has just begun to fall.

Looking at the calendar, I would be remiss if I didn’t make note of today being the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S., so I’ll close with an umbrella-related Celtic blessing…

May you always have walls for the wind…
A roof for the rain…
Time for a drink by the fire…
Laughter to cheer you…
Those you love near you…
And all that your heart may desire.

Letters…we get letters…we get stacks and stacks of letters...by Adela Meadows

Well, not really stacks…but they didn’t have e-mail back when Perry Como was writing the lyrics to the song he sang when opening mail on his 50s-era television show…and since a great many of you have no idea of who or what I’m talking about…let’s just say that we get a lot of e-mail requests from people who want to know more about a piece of French faïence in their collection.

Here’s one we received this month…

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Meadows,
I have enclosed pictures of a decorative platter I inherited from my grandmother. I have spent a number of years trying to find out what the scene depicts. I was once told it was a party with whores, but I thought it looked like a wedding party. Either way, I am curious about its content. Can you enlighten me?
Sincerely,
- - -

Over their three hundred plus years of modern existence, the potteries in Quimper did produce an erotically-decorated example here and there, but they are quite few and far between. The letter writer’s description struck a bell…I was fairly sure that I knew the piece and, after opening the first photograph, my suspicions were confirmed…

The photographs showed an HR Quimper platter…
My reply:

Dear - - -
I commend you for your perseverance…and after your years of trying to find the answer, I’m delighted to be able to finally clarify the situation for you. The correct answer is an emphatic “No!”…the scene on your grandmother’s platter has nothing to do with prostitution!

It is, indeed, a celebration…whether of a marriage or another festive occasion, such as the secular days of a religious pardon, one couldn’t say for sure. That’s Quimper’s Cathedrale Saint-Corentin in the background and the participants are for the most part dressed in the “Sunday Best” costume worn in the Kerfeunteun neighborhood of Quimper…although some of the guests are dressed à la Fouesnantaise…signifying an inhabitant of the area of Pont-Aven, Concarneau, Fouesnant, etc.

Being, by nature, rather curious, I began to wonder how someone could come up with such an erroneous conclusion. The people advising you were probably not totally familiar with the traditional customs and heritage of the Brittany region and perhaps just looked in a dictionary of the Breton language. The problem is that historically there were many different dialects throughout the region…some so different that it was difficult for folk from one village to communicate with those from another. (Picture the inhabitants of the Bronx speaking a totally different language than the residents of Queens).

For example, the word for wine in some parts of Brittany was aguin, while in others, it was guin…cider was jistr in some area and gist in others…whereas today, it’s sistr. The language has evolved over the years and the current Breton is comprised of a blending of the various dialects. The Breton word in use today for prostitute is gast, but the plural is gisti and that may have been the source of the misunderstanding.

The tent in your platter served as an ostaleri…the Breton word for bar. Gist means cider, mad means good, and gwin-ardant is eau-de-vie or brandy…so the sign on the tent reads “Good Cider and Brandy”!

I’m glad I was able to answer your question and in so doing un-besmirch the reputation of those depicted in the scene…and I hope this adds to the enjoyment of your Grandmother’s lovely platter!
Best Regards,
Adela
Adela and Mark Meadows
The Meadows Collection
www.oldquimper.com

And while we are on the subject…

Some examples…

Gwin…
 
… on a wine pitcher designed by René-Yves Creston for the Henriot factory…

Jistr Mad…

…a petite bretonne serves some “good cider” on this Georges Brisson plate made at the HB factory…

…and here’s one where I was tripped up by the dictionary…

…an Henriot pitcher with a French motto that I had difficulty translating…A Bon Vin Point d’Enseigne. At first I thought it meant something on the order of “a good wine is the sign of a good establishment”…until the day I somehow happened to be reading fifteenth century French proverbs and came across that very phrase. I hadn’t been too far off…in today’s French, the word enseigne means sign, but back then someone speaking “old French” used that word to signify advertising or publicity…so it really means “Good wine has no sign…a centuries-old proverb to convey the idea that an excellent product doesn’t need publicity; quality speaks for itself, etc.