Bidspirit auction | Quimper French Faience WWI Plate

Quimper French Faience WWI Plate - Le Vieil Armand - “Cercle du Soldat” - Quimper Faience Plate marked Le Vieil Armand 1915 and 152 - 25 Dimensions  H 1 x W 10 x D 10 inches  Condition: Good overall condition.  Provenance: From the private collection of Floyd and Beverly Sherman The casualties of WWI are staggering. France suffered 1,385,300 either dead or missing and an untold number of wounded and maimed. After 2 years at war with Germany, a French civil servant, M. Bulloz in the 6th arrondisement in Paris, proposes a competition for the students of the decorative arts in Paris. The winning patriotic designs would be displayed at a public exhibition. The plates would be marked ” Cercle du Soldat du VI arrdt 1917.” Attended to the exhibition would place orders for the designs they wanted to purchase and would be produced by the Henriot Quimper faiencerie. All profits would go to help the wounded soldiers.  The exhibition is held and is so successful, that an additional exhibition is held with more designs, followed by a third exhibition. In all 84 designs would be produced in Quimper in various numbers, but none in large numbers. In August 1917, 31 new designs will be produced to mark the entry of the United States into the war illustrating the enthusiasm with which America's arrival was welcomed. Designs on these rare plates have references to history, literature, and to some local customs that arose during the war. Some of these have been lost to memory in the over 100 years since they were produced. Motifs include the coq or Marianne representing France, trains, soldiers, weapons, a bear Russia), lion (England), fox (Germany), a rising sun, Uncle Sam, German soldiers, artillery, letters so important coming from the home front, along with many more symbols.  November 11, 1918 marked the end of ”the war to end all wars.”  Per Encyclopedia des Ceramiques de Quimper - Tome III - authors Theallet, Verlingue: Of this plate- 8 produced in 3 orders