This over-sized serving charger is from a table service by the French Jules Vieillard manu...
This over-sized serving charger is from a table service by the French Jules Vieillard manufactory featuring far eastern scenes framed in the shape of Japanese folding fans.
Three fans appear along the edge of the brown transfer-printed charger--each turned at a different angle to create a slightly undulating flow around the plate. In the large top fan we find costumed figures engaged in an intriguing conversation. Fans on the lower left and right are decorated with flowing floral sprays. Connecting the fans is a figured band suggestive of a silk brocade.
One must note the printed fan mark on the backside. In a tortured script intended to suggest Japanese characters we have "JVaBx" for Jules Vieillard a Bordeaux--all contained within yet another fan-shaped field.
We have seen reference to the pattern as "Eventails" or "Fans." While this seems self-evident, we have not encountered examples so marked.