Pair of Antique French Faience Plates - Creil Montereau

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Opéra-bouffe was a style of comic operetta which was very popular and considered extremely chic in Paris beginning in 1855. … Read more Opéra-bouffe was a style of comic operetta which was very popular and considered extremely chic in Paris beginning in 1855. Even the French emporer attended these brand new performances which attracted huge crowds. This fad of popular culture prompted the potteries of Creil, Oise and of Montereau, Seine-et-Marne, to produce faience plates, lead-glazed earthenware on a white ground, and use their new technique of transferware printing to decorate them. The humorous, zany performances inspired the potters to create a line of plates featuring scenes and outrageous characters from the opera. With that great success, the French potteries also introduced pieces that featured what they called "Talking Plates" which added text to their comical plates. This pair of Opéra-bouffe plates are in black and white which preceded the making of color plates. These unique pieces would be interesting as part of a gallery wall display, hung as a pair or displayed on a console.


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