Jug with apple merchant design

Polychrome earthenware. Circa 1880.

Manufacture Porquier Beau (1872-1905) was born of the partnership between the widow Porquier and the painter Alfred Beau in 1872. Their collaboration gave rise to the company's famous earthenware with Breton scenes, studies as rigorous as they were picturesque. Also attracted by Japanese art, Alfred Beau produced a number of pieces that heralded Art Nouveau in Brittany. The already high price of this production led to the closure of the factory in 1905.