Trendy Bird-patterned Plate From The Botanical Series By Porquier-beau

Porquier-Beau Manufactory. Polychrome earthenware, circa 1890. Unmarked. Diameter 23.5 cm.

From the botanical series.

The Porquier-Beau Manufactory (1872–1905) was founded in 1872 through a partnership between Mrs. Porquier and the painter Alfred Beau.

From their collaboration emerged the famous painted earthenware pieces featuring Breton scenes—studies as meticulous as they are picturesque.

Alsodrawn to Japonism, Alfred Beau created a few pieces that heralded Art Nouveau in Brittany. The already high cost of this production led to the closure of the factory in 1905.

Alfred Beau (1829–1907)

A native of Morlaix, this exceptional artist distinguished himself through an innovative approach that involved developing, with remarkable technical virtuosity, a coherent body of work painted on ceramics dedicated to the theme of Brittany. Concerned about the gradual erosion of traditional Breton dress, he undertook, shortly after 1870, in collaboration with the Porquier factory in Quimper, to produce a series of delicate paintings fired in a high-temperature kiln, with the assistance of students from the recently founded Quimper Museum of Fine Arts.

In 1884, he also contributed, at the Trocadéro Museum, to the design of a Gallery of Breton Costume at the Trocadéro Museum, where the strikingly realistic terracotta faces completed the ethnographic accuracy of the entire display. Considered the inventor of the “Breton style,” he ended his career as curator of the Quimper Museum of Fine Arts.