Haviland & Cie – Albert Dammouse – Japanese-style Plate Featuring A Heron In Flight, Limoges, Ca. 1885

A flat plate in ivory-colored hard-paste porcelain from the Haviland & Cie factory in Limoges, notable for the richness of its Japanese-inspired decoration and the particularly refined craftsmanship of the porcelain itself.

The center of the plate is adorned with a heron in flight, depicted with great artistic freedom in a deliberately subdued palette of gray, brown, and black, accented with gold highlights. A few plant motifs complete this very understated composition, directly inspired by the Japanese aesthetic that profoundly influenced Haviland’s designs in the last quarter of the 19th century.

The porcelain also features a beautiful white-on-white design in slight relief, different from that of the other plate in the series. The background is dotted with small stylized flowers and surrounded by several concentric friezes, while the rim features a finely structured botanical design.

This relief, almost imperceptible under certain lighting conditions, reveals itself spectacularly when the plate is placed in front of a light source: the variations in the thickness of the porcelain then make the design appear through translucency, creating a remarkable paste-on-paste effect or lithophany.

This type of relief design is part of the research conducted by Albert Dammouse (1848–1926) for Haviland beginning in 1879, with several comparable 24-cm plates documented as having been produced by the manufactory during the years 1883–1889.

The Japanese-inspired bird design is similar to creations developed at Haviland during the same period under the influence of Félix Bracquemond.

Markings on the reverse:
H & C° / L
Haviland & C° Limoges

Limoges, circa 1883–1889.

A very fine artistic piece from the Haviland manufactory, characteristic of French Japonism of the 1880s.

Shipping: 14 euros within France, 25 euros within the EU, and 100 euros to the rest of the world.

We have a second matching plate for sale in our gallery.