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B&Cie (porcelain), Charles POYARD (stamper), Félix FLICK (painter), Ornamental Dish With Portrait of a Berber Woman in its Wooden Frame, 1878

This faience dish was crafted by the B&Cie factory in Montereau, while its design was conceived and painted by Félix Flick; Charles Poyard likely contributed to the enameling. This beautiful portrait depicts a Berber woman in a bust, shown frontally. Her gaze does not meet that of the viewer, enhancing the mystery surrounding her. The woman’s features and fair complexion could belong to a European, as was often the case during this period, but her accessories identify her as Berber. Her forehead is adorned with a diadem featuring multiple golden pendants, securing a white veil that covers her hair. Her earrings echo the motif of the pendants, as does her necklace, which is further embellished with crescent moons. The Oriental woman’s deep blue dress, which resonates with the background color of the portrait, is overlaid with a drape of shining white and gold. The dish is set in a wooden frame whose ornamentation complements and enriches that of the plate itself. The engraved low-relief scrolls culminate in palmettes, while the four corners are adorned with flowers whose petals and centers are highlighted with gold. The circular shape of the dish is emphasized by a partially gilded ring. The dish is signed by both its creators within the decoration, as well as on the reverse, where it is also dated and bears the impressed mark used by the Creil and Montereau factory between 1876 and 1884. Félix Flick, a painter from Metz (1852–?), exhibited his work at Parisian Salons between 1876 and 1882. He primarily painted historical or Orientalist subjects on faience, as exemplified by this dish. The Montereau faience factory was founded in 1749 by Etienne François Mazois. It merged with the Creil faience factory in 1840, leading to the creation of the “Creil et Montereau” mark and the receipt of numerous awards and medals. Following a fire in 1895, only the Montereau site remained operational. In 1920, the group was acquired by the Choisy-le-Roi factory, before finally closing its doors in 1955. The name of Charles Poyard, though obscure, is mainly associated with the title of “estampeur” (engraver), thanks to two advertising tokens preserved at the Carnavalet Museum. The collaboration between Flick and Charles Poyard produced several Orientalist or historicist portraits similar to the one in question. One such example, also dated 1878, was auctioned at Artcurial in 2016. It portrays a turbaned man with upturned eyes, framed within a yellow border adorned with abstract Orientalist motifs.