Faience Soupier... French Ceramic Elegance!

As you may know, we have recently been on a treasure hunt through North-Eastern France in the region of Lorraine famous for it's high quality Faïence pottery. It was one of... ahhh who am I kidding... it was the MOST productive antique buying spree we have been on so far! The main reason for that is this incredibly beautiful, refined and elegant 19th century Soupiere (Soup holder) that had adorned an old French woman's home for generations until her death. It is believed that it dates from the 2nd half of the 1800s probably between 1860 - 1880 and is probably the most refined hand painted piece of Faience I have ever seen with scenes depicting hunting, flowers, birds, deer & other forest animals.
When buying Faience or Faenza as we call it here in Italy, or any other ceramic antiques for that matter, of course the value is always partially in the signature. This piece is signed by the artist himself being a simple F.B. brushed onto the bottom of the base dish. Our research as pointed that this F.B. was not a prolific Faience artist and as such his pieces are very rare (Tip: Search Google before buying anything antique!)

Anyway, enough from me... let's just enjoy some truly breathtaking hand painted French Faience...

c 1860 - 1880

Scene depicting forest animals & flora motifs as seen from lid

Base dish from above highlighting the incredible detail

Artists Signature "La Faiencerie, Peint à la main R.B."
which translates as, "The Faiencerie, painted by hand F.B."
Usually when an artist writes "La Faiencerie, it would usually
indicate the factory name where he worked.