Now this set of plates is just plain fun! They were made by HBCM (Hippolyte Boulenger-Criel Montereau) France sometime between 1920 and 1950. They’re colourful, whimsical and humorous – everything I like in tableware.
The series (of which I managed to snag 10 of the possible 12 on eBay), features people engaged some way or another with bicycles and velocipedes.
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- #1 Le velocipede de Maitre avec accompagnement de domestiques
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- #2 La chasse en Bicyclette
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- #4 Pour monter, vous prenez votre élan
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- #5 Bicyclette et Tricycles militaires
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- #6 Les courses de l’avenir – La Picadora
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- #8 Un classe de velocipede dans un Lycee de jeune filles
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- #9 Le velocipede applique a la separation de corps#10 B’est ca ta bicyclette le docteur
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- #10 B’est ca ta bicyclette le docteur me la recommande comme exercice…
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- #11 Un depute en tournée électorale
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- #12 Romeo et Juliette
Styling them turned out to be more of a challenge than I first anticipated. I wanted to highlight the scenes on the plates, without too much visual detraction. Black and white line drawings with lots of colours – a lot like a cartoon. Hmmm.
I used Gien’s Ouiseau Blue as the base plate. Also a French Faience pattern, it fit very naturally. It’s a soft blue, although a complex pattern.
I wanted to get a visual break between the two blue and white patterns, so layered Williams Sonoma’s Pacifica in navy blue. The crips boldness of the navy was a nice counterpoint to all the pattern, and I tied that in with the sailor blue runner from Pottery Barn this year. (While on the topic, I should also comment that this year’s linens are very flimsy compared with previous years. Not good. I see they have them heavily discounted at present, which may mean others have noticed the same thing.)
The Cece bistro-style napkins from Wayfair in the red and taupe check (they describe them as striped?) provided a nice contrast to the blues, and echoed the colours most predominant on the bicycle plates.
A large centre piece of rosy red apples nestled in reindeer moss was next. I fiddled around with the idea of flowers, but the apples seemed more natural and “picknic-ish”, consistent with bicycling.
Simple tumblers featuring bees, very common French Bistro ware, came next.
I finished with plain white small bowls for open salts.
What do you think? Fun?
On a side note, I found the bicycle plates when I was bidding on another set – Bird Soldiers – which I ultimately lost out on. Rats. These were hilarious, but got away from me by a sneaky last minute bid from another contender. I hope they are enjoying them. grump, grump.
You can’t win them all! I’ll keep an eye out for further series by HBCM (Hippolyte Boulenger-Criel Montereau) France.
As I was doing my research on HBCM, I discovered they were also the producer of the Opera Series (I called it Musical Score) that I already own and blogged about last year. I notice I also styled those plates with a large bowl of fruit, but more delicate glassware.
I’m sharing this post with Between Naps on the Porch.
I’d love to find some of these darling plates. I like the way you styled them with the solid and patterned blue plates underneath.
Joy – there are still some on e-Bay! Just search on French Faience Plates 🙂
Love, love, love these plates. Thank you so much for sharing them today! I also love the way you complimented them with your other plates. A beautifully executed table! Bravo! Rosie @ The Magic Hutch
Thanks so much, Rosie. I enjoyed setting the table, too. Thanks for visiting.
Love the whimsical design of these dishes. The big bowl with red apples is quite striking and I like that the red in the napkins repeats the color of the apples. These dishes can engage everyone at the table with conversation about them!
Thanks, Liz. I like collecting series ware plates, especially when they’ve got a humorous element. Thanks for stopping in.