The basic design formula of Keller and Guerin's brown transfer "Ecrans" starts with a background design of birds and flowers, rendered in a naturalistic manner, against which are superimposed independent images--giving the appearance of mounted prints in a scrapbook. In this variation a crane flies above stalks of chrysanthemums and irises. Upon this background we have a rectangular image of a gentleman contemplating another flying crane and--in strong contrast--a scalloped underwater vignette featuring a startled looking fish.  

The pattern name "Ecrans" translates as "Screens," presumably referring to the "mounted" prints of the design.

Earthenware was produced in the Lorraine town of Luneville since the eighteenth century. The firm of Keller and Guerin was founded in 1812 and continued production well into the twentieth century. "Ecrans"seems to have been a popular pattern, appearing in a number of variations, both monochrome and polychrome.

Thanks to the canny sleuthing of our friend Louise T. Brownell, we can demonstrate that the K.& G. designer responsible for "Ecrans" went directly to Japanese sources for at least some of the pattern's images. Our contemplative gentleman can be traced to Hokusai's Manga as we can see in our final photo.