Dinner Plates

19th Century Rare French Majolica Reticulated Flowers Platter. 10.3 by 8.7 inches.  

Few 19th-century French faience services embody the elegance, artistic refinement and poetic spirit of the Japonisme movement as beautifully as Jules Vieillard Bordeaux’s celebrated “Nella” pattern. More than a dinner service, this remarkable ensemble is a hand-painted work of art, where every piece celebrates nature through an extraordinary variety of exotic birds, flowering branches, butterflies and delicate insects. No two plates are exactly alike, making each place setting a unique composition while preserving the perfect harmony of the whole. Founded in Bordeaux in 1845, the Jules Vieillard manufactory became one of France’s most prestigious ceramic producers. By the 1870s it employed nearly 1,300 craftsmen, ranking among the country’s leading faience manufacturers. Its artistic creations were celebrated at the great international exhibitions of the nineteenth century, including the Gold Medal awarded at the Paris Universal Exposition of 1878, a distinction that firmly established the international reputation of the Bordeaux factory. Created during this golden period, the “Nella” pattern is now regarded as one of the manufactory’s finest and rarest achievements. Inspired by the discovery of Japanese art in Europe during the second half of the nineteenth century, it perfectly reflects the new decorative language that transformed European ceramics. Every piece was individually moulded in fine faience, fired, then meticulously hand-painted by master decorators using coloured enamels before receiving its final transparent glaze and being fired once again. This demanding process ensured exceptional brilliance while allowing each painter complete artistic freedom. Rather than reproducing a single repetitive design, every plate was intentionally decorated with its own individual composition. Kingfishers, parrots and other exotic birds rest upon blossoming branches of prunus, peonies, irises and wild roses. Butterflies, dragonflies and tiny ladybirds animate the white ground with remarkable delicacy, creating the impression of a living garden. The asymmetrical compositions, generous areas of untouched white and graceful movement throughout the decoration perfectly express the refined aesthetic of French Japonisme. Complete “Nella” services have become extraordinarily scarce. Intended for everyday use within distinguished households, most examples were gradually dispersed or damaged over nearly one hundred and fifty years. Today, large coherent ensembles with their original serving pieces seldom appear on the international market. According to family history, this exceptional service remained for generations in an elegant maison de maître on the French Riviera before entering the antiques market. Unlike most surviving examples, which are composed predominantly of plates, this magnificent ensemble retains an unusually rich selection of original serving pieces together with its complete coffee service, making it equally desirable for collectors, designers and prestigious private residences. Composition — 83 Pieces * 27 Dinner Plates – Ø 25 cm (9.84 in) * 14 Soup Plates – Ø 25.5 cm (10.04 in) * 16 Dessert Plates – Ø 22.5 cm (8.86 in) * 1 Covered Soup Tureen * 2 Covered Vegetable Tureens * 1 Covered Serving Dish * 2 Large Oval Serving Platters * 1 Large Fish Platter * 1 Shell-Shaped Compotier * 2 Covered Sauce Boats with Attached Stands * 1 Covered Mustard Pot * 1 Coffee Pot * 1 Covered Sugar Bowl * 1 Milk Jug * 10 Coffee Cups * 11 Coffee Saucers Every piece bears the JVB factory mark beneath, while the principal serving pieces are additionally marked “Nella”, confirming the authenticity of this prestigious model. The overall condition is exceptional considering its age of approximately 150 years. The enamels retain remarkable freshness and brilliance, while the glaze remains beautifully preserved. Minor imperfections are limited to a few discreet hairlines, one deep serving dish displaying slight age-related darkening, one coffee saucer with noticeable staining and the expected traces of careful domestic use accumulated over generations. These small imperfections are entirely consistent with the age of the service and do not detract from its extraordinary visual impact. More than simply an antique dinner service...

French Majolica strawberries plate circa 1880 Luneville.

A beautiful set of five antique French majolica plates, featuring an elegant relief design of vine leaves, grape clusters, and branches. Their rich palette of greens, browns, and cre...

A child’s assiette parlante, a talking plate, illustrated by Benjamin Rabier for Sarreguemines, France – circa 1900. Benjamin Rabier (1864-1939), was a French children’s author, pla...

A child’s assiette parlante, a talking plate, illustrated by Benjamin Rabier for Sarreguemines, France – circa 1900. Benjamin Rabier (1864-1939), was a French children’s author, pl...

Unusual French Majolica asparagus plate with 3 spaces unsigned, circa 1890.

This is a highly decorative, Earthenware (ironstone), Dinner Plate by Ridgway, dating to the Aesthetic period in the second half of the 19th Century, Victorian period, Circa 1884. T...

A gorgeous antique French Sarreguemines majolica oyster plate, circa 1870. Maker's mark and model number on reverse (this is an older model). It displays beautifully with vibrant col...

English green Majolica geranium plate, circa 1880.

French Majolica blue, pink and grey oyster plate unsigned from Fives Lille, circa 1890.

This porcelain plate is number 89 in Piero Fornasetti’s Tema e Variazioni, the series he built across his career from a single borrowed face, that of the opera singer Lina Cavalieri. Here the face is shown half-immersed. Only the brow and the eyes rise above the surface of a still lake, the lower part of the face lying below the waterline, and the eyes appear a second time in the water as a soft reflection, so that four eyes look out of the plate at once. A stand of rushes crosses the foreground at the lower edge. The image is printed in black by lithographic transfer on a white ground, the whole worked in the fine engraved hatching and stipple that Fornasetti used throughout the series, with the horizontal ripple of the water set against the dotted modeling of the face. The device is characteristically economical: a single unbroken horizontal line converts a portrait into a landscape, and the viewer supplies the rest. Piero Fornasetti (1913–1988) found the face in a nineteenth-century French illustrated magazine and was held by it for the rest of his working life. He was drawn not to Cavalieri’s celebrity but to the formal character of the image, a face he described as archetypal, as classic as a Greek statue and as enigmatic as the Gioconda, and therefore able to carry any idea he brought to it. He produced more than three hundred and fifty variations under the title Tema e Variazioni, almost all of them on plates, and the series has been continued since his death by his son Barnaba under the Atelier Fornasetti name. Patrick Mauriès observes that for Fornasetti a single product never exhausted the possibilities of an idea, and that much of his work therefore takes the form of variations on a theme; among the recurring subjects he lists the sun, playing cards, the harlequin, and hands, but above all this face, which appears through the series as a moon, a flower, a lake, a mask, a mosaic, a clock, and a single disembodied eye. The present plate is the lake. The porcelain blanks were bought in and decorated at the Milan studio, and the green Arzberg mark beneath the black Fornasetti stamp records the German factory that supplied this one. Hung on its own or grouped with other plates from the series, it holds a wall far beyond its size. Dimensions Diameter: 10 inches (25.4 cm) Marks Printed to the reverse with the Fornasetti eye...

French green Majolica leaves plate signed Montereau, circa 1890.

Green Majolica oyster plate, six white wells on a green basket weave, circa 1890 signed Longchamp.

Majolica oyster plate signed Sarreguemines, circa 1950.

Majolica oyster plate Sarreguemines, circa 1870. 6 Shells and space for the lemon on the center. Older model.

From Copeland Spode – in the Fernleigh pattern, a set of six plates, Stoke-On-Trent, England, discontinued in the early 1960s. Made of Earthenware and transfer printed with hand-col...

Green Victorian Majolica sunflower plate Wedgwood, circa 1880.

French Majolica chesnut leaf plate , circa 1890. 7.3 inches diameter.

French Faience Plate Henriot Quimper Circa 1950. woman from Brittany with a spinning wheel. 10.5 inches diameter.

CROWN DERBY (William Duesbury II period) - Imari Pattern - Exceptional large assembled early soft paste porcelain part dinner service - featuring hand painted Japanese style decorati...

Small Majolica water lily pond plate Wasmuel, circa 1890.6 inches diameter , 8 plates available.  

Featuring set of 8 delicate, romantic, and unmistakably timeless—the Lavendar Rose dinner plates by Royal Albert captures the essence of English floral elegance. Featuring soft clust...

Majolica strawberries plate signed Sarreguemines Majolica, circa 1870. 8 plates are available.  

Set of fourteen Spode floral plates. Fourteen softly scalloped and gilt banded plates each with uniquely painted intertwined floral botanical wreathing; from the factory under Josiah...

French Majolica oyster plate with seaweeds Salins (East of France) circa 1890.  

A set of two strawberry and grape leaf plates, from Samuel Alcock & Co, Burslem, Staffordshire, England, circa 1850. This pair is being offered AS IS, both showing issues due to met...

English Victorian Majolica oyster plate, circa 1890.

French Majolica blue, pink and grey oyster plate unsigned from Fives Lille, circa 1890.

French Set of six green majolica grapes plates, circa 1880.  

This exceptional ceramic plate is a fine example of early 19th-century English pottery, produced by the renowned Mason’s Ironstone China around 1820. Featuring the iconic Blue Willow...

Unique set of 11 hand decorated porcelain ceramic dinner plates featuring various fish using exuberant brushstrokes. Each plate signed on back with the name of fish depicted.

French Majolica strawberries plate Orchies, circa 1890.

Imari ware is a style of Japanese porcelain made in the town of Arita and exported from the port of Imari. It is characterized by its vibrant colours, typically including underglaze ...

Continental Majolica Leaf Plate Circa 1900. Signed Czechoslovakia.

French Majolica oyster plate signed Longchamp, circa 1900.

Monteverde is a collection inspired by the Cloud Forest Reserve in Costa Rica, located in the central part of the country. It is a mountainous area rich in biodiversity, known for it...

An exceptional set of 68 pieces or eight full place settings including serving pieces from the Starburst collection known as the best china pattern of the Mid-Century period. Called ...

Wonderful antique Victorian Wedgwood part dinner service having a quality Victorian Wedgwood part dinner service with an extensive range of pieces comprising of eight platters the la...

Antique Austrian Majolica crawfish / Lobster plate circa 1890 signed Schutz Cilli Age is approximate. No noted restoration or repairs. Good condition for age. A beautiful plate.

French Majolica Parrots & Bamboo Plate Salins, circa 1890.    

Set of 2 French Green Majolica Plates – Sarreguemines Manufacture – 20th Century Description: This is a set of four majolica plates, crafted in France during the 20th century by the ...

French Majolica blue, pink and grey oyster plate unsigned from Fives Lille, circa 1890.

French Majolica asparagus plate Onnaing, circa 1890.

A fine example of Japanese Imari porcelain, this plate likely dates to the Meiji period and reflects the artistry and craftsmanship that made Imari ware so prized worldwide. Originating in the kilns of Arita and shipped through the port of Imari, these porcelains became synonymous with elegance, rich design, and cultural exchange between Japan and the West. Design: This plate features a scalloped edge and is richly decorated in cobalt blue and white with a detailed tableau of peacocks, birds, flowering trees, and foliage—motifs deeply symbolic in Japanese art, representing beauty, longevity, and renewal. The balance of naturalistic detail and decorative flourish is characteristic of Imari porcelain of the late 19th century. Era: Given its style and subject matter, this piece can be attributed to the late 19th to early 20th century, during Japan’s Meiji era, a period when traditional craftsmanship flourished alongside modernization. Why Collectors Value It: Exemplifies the refined artistry of Japanese porcelain during a culturally transformative period. Features timeless natural motifs that resonate with both collectors and decorators. A versatile piece—equally striking as a display plate, wall mount, or part of a larger Imari collection...

Piero Fornasetti Porcelain Plate, Tema e Variazioni No. 224, Lina Cavalieri 1980s This Piero Fornasetti porcelain plate from the Tema e Variazioni series presents the face of the It...

French Majolica plate Onnaing Circa 1890. flowers and blackberries.

Rare Set of 6 French Majolica Palm Plate Sarreguemines, circa 1870. Diameter / 7.5 inches.

Vallauris oyster plates are among the most covetable objects to emerge from the golden age of French Riviera studio ceramics, and this example represents the form at its most dramati...

French porcelain oyster plate with seaweeds Limoges, circa 1900.

Mid-Century Ceramic Red Oyster Plate Vallauris circa 1950. 9 colors available. pink,navy blue,yellow,orange,green,purple,black,aqua,red.

A set of four (4) American transferware dinner plates by Homer Laughlin, each featuring a magenta‑toned Gothic and Neoclassical scenic medallion with architectural elements, figures,...

The image shows a plate from the Burleigh Blue Asiatic Pheasants collection. This Plate dates back to the mid 1800s Design: This collection features intricate soft blue flowers and ...

ROYAL DOULTON (Manufacturer) - Persian D3088 (Pattern Name/Number) - Persian style transfer decorated ceramic cabinet plate in blue with hand painted highlights - featuring flowers w...

A French porcelain oyster plate, circa 1890 – 1910. Six shell shaped oyster wells with multicolored, hand painted ‘eyes’ surrounding a central, round sauce well, outlined in gold. ...

This elegant French dinner service was crafted by A. Lanternier & Cie in Limoges, renowned for producing some of the finest porcelain of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The h...

This magnificent set of two dessert plates will be a precious addition to any home. The pieces are part of the Costantinopoli collection, comprising porcelain plates decorated with a...

This striking set comprises twelve majolica oyster plates and one large matching serving platter, beautifully crafted in the style of Longchamp, France. Each plate features a vivid g...

English Victorian Majolica oyster plate, circa 1890.

Majolica asparagus plate signed Luneville Keller & Guerin, circa 1890.