Set of 7 hand painted Choisy-le-roi antique side plates French botanical theme fruits & nuts, mid 19

An exquisite set of 7 elegant and rare french antique side plates in ironstone / earthenware from hb (hautin boulanger) of choisy-le-roi, france. Hand painted with a diverging pattern in a botanical theme with fruits, nuts and berries, these intricately rendered pieces date from the mid 19thc yet remain ready to use and enjoy today. Priced and sold as a set of 7 pieces. These pieces of french fine faience earthenware were made by hautin boulanger et cie from 1875 to 1890. Although in an absolutely classic fruit motif, this set is very rare and unusual - not only from this excellent french faience house, but also with a design created entirely by hand from their most skilled artisans who would have been usually painting majolica or ceramic art plaques intended to decorate walls. It is rare to find usable plates hand painted in this way as transferware would have been much more commonly found - it marks these out as very exclusive items, and they are very rarely seen. This lovely set of cake plate dates from around the mid-late 19th century, and feature 7 different designs within the same set. Each central composition of fruits and nuts is bounded by a hand painted border of a green vine with red berries to ensure a cohesive look across the set. Beautifully rendered shading effects, exquisite detail and very lovely naturalistic arrangements with the foliage surrounding each fruit. Every one of these pieces is unique, making owning the entire set very special. Impressed with makers marks on the base, and two have additional makers stamps for hb et cie, choisy-le-roi. Each composition is different featuring a pear, an apple, redcurrants, strawberries, a peach, hazelnuts and (i think!) the more unusual medlar fruit. They are very skillfully rendered and very lively in person - lovely details and very natural compositions give a very strong representational effect that must have taken significant time to achieve - excellent examples of fine art in ceramic.

Ref. : SXPTFVZ3