1875-1876

Plate from the “Service fleurs et oiseaux jetés”

Félix-Joseph-Auguste Bracquemond

French, 1833 - 1914

For the “Fleurs et oiseaux jetés” Service (Service with Scattered Flowers and Birds), Félix Bracquemond appropriated images from Japanese prints, creating seven specific etchings for the tableware. These designs of flowers and birds are similar to those of the flowers, birds, and fish he used for the “Rousseau” Service (2018-6-38), both in the sizes of the prints and in the scattered arrangement of images. Bracquemond’s etchings served as preparatory studies and eventually as transfers for the images pictured in the series. Like the designs of the “Rousseau” Service and the “Figures et accessoires japonais” Service (2018-6-49), these images were transfer printed and arranged asymmetrically before being hand painted.

Several pieces from the “Fleurs et oiseaux jetés” Service were shown in the Haviland and Company booth at the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876. A photo taken at the exhibition, and now in the collection of the Free Library of Philadelphia, shows two covered tureens from this service.