Delphin Massier Platters and Serveware

French Napoleon III majolica slip aperitive or dessert set by Jerome MASSIER, Vallauris, France, end of 19th century. 6 (2x3) plates : anemone, pansy and daisy - Diameter : 7.5"(19cm). 1 platter with the three same flowers - Height : 3"(7.5cm), Diameter : 13"(33cm). Platter and plates (except one) are intaglio stamped. "J.Massier Vallauris" (platter), "Jerome Massier Vallauris" (4 plates) "Jerome Massier Fils Vallauris AM" (1 plate). Excellent original condition (an original crack in the firing on a plate, see last photo). The Massiers’ work represents a link between traditional Victorian majolica and Art Nouveau pottery. There were three Massiers working in the second half of the nineteenth century, heirs to an old line of potters, who transformed traditional utilitarian ceramics into an art form. Their ancestors had worked for several centuries in Vallauris on the French Riviera, where, in the twentieth century, Pablo Picasso was reigning ceramic artist. Delphin Massier (1836 - 1907), and Clément (1845 -1917) were brothers. A cousin, Jérome (1850 – 1916) worked with them, using the signature « Jérome Massier fils ». By 1899 the family firm was divided into branches headed by these three men. In 1860 the Massiers began to produce their vibrantly colored majolica, perhaps inspired by the flowers of the Cote d’Azur. Clément was particularly interested in designs drawn from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome, as well as from Renaissance maiolica...