19th-Century French Moustiers Chinoiserie Plates, a Pair

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Pair of early 19th-Century French faience plates of lobed shape, hand painted in lovely spring green color. Light purple flourishes … Read more Pair of early 19th-Century French faience plates of lobed shape, hand painted in lovely spring green color. Light purple flourishes with a floral and foliate surround on a cream ground. complete these lovely collectible plates. They each depict a Chinoiserie design stylized grotesque figure, one with a turban and the other with a parasol, both in a field or garden. A fine example of a pair of early Moustiers plates.

The art of ceramics has considerably evolved in Moustiers since the Middle Ages. At the time, only objects in glazed clay were produced, in the natural colours of green and brown. The art flourished thanks to Pierre Clérissy, who was initiated by an Italian monk visiting the Monastery of the Communauté de Lérins. He came with the secret of white enamel (tinned ceramics) in 1668. Not long after, Louis XIV had ordered all the gold and silver tableware to be melted to restore the royal treasure and to go to war. It is in this moment that Moustiers’ ceramics will acquire high notoriety all over European courts. See less