French Faience Majolica SALINS Oyster Plate Plates ART DECO EAMES Turquoise !

Pottery : Vintage : Oyster Plates : French

 

An early modern, French oyster plate (assiette à huîtres), circa 1930s, from Salins les Bains, in eastern France! One of two available, each sold separately. Each plate has six wells for oysters, plus one for sauce. The design is "Ecume de Mer" (Sea Foam). The stunning decoration is still very contemporary, with glossy, brilliant turquoise and royal blue, contrasted with lava-like effects in matte black. The texture is exquisite and very organic: combined with the brilliant colors, it creates an effect very reminiscent of the French thermal spas, the Riviera and its Mediterranean beaches. Just the pick-up you need, as winter takes over much of the globe! Stunningly beautiful plates and usable too!

Diameter: c. 9 1/2 in. (24 cm.)

Salins-les-Bains is a thermal spa town and earthenware center in eastern France, not far from Mont Blanc and the Swiss border. It takes its name from salt and the salt works which historically were responsible for the town's vitality. The faience factory of Salins originated in 1857 in the old Capucins convent, taking advantage of the hydraulic power of the Furieuse Fiver and of the many roads and railways. The factory produced ceramics throughout the 19th century and into the 20th. Salins was awarded with the gold medal in the International Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris in 1912. Salins has manufactured Barbotine and Art Déco Majolica oyster plates from the 1880s to the 1960s. Fine earthenware is still made by the local craftsmen.

Serious collectors of the art deco period and the mid-century Eames era will appreciate that the plates are very compatible with some of the innovative, twentieth century works by one of France’s most distinguished ceramic artists, Roger Caplan of Vallauris. Caplan is widely known for his biomorphic forms and used these striking glaze colors for some of his modernist ceramics and furnishings. Vallauris is a small village near Cannes, west of Nice and Monaco on the French Riviera, known since the end of the 19th century for fine arts and majolica. Ceramic glazes of each village, Salins-les-Bains and Vallauris, often bear the traditional colors of the waters in their regions. Picasso followed suit in his painting at Vallauris.

The plates are unmarked. The plates are nearly perfect. No cracks, hairlines or signs of restoration. (Examined with black light.) The third plate shown has a little bit of glaze wear in one well at 5 o'clock; but, it blends in with the intentional irregularities in the surfaces. The plates display beautifully!

Item ID: 1113-05
 
Quantity Available: 2