Set of 4 Antique French Hand-Painted Ceramic Dessert Plates 7½"

"They're sweet sayings — sweetly suggestive!" Patricia exclaims of this charming set of four small French ceramic plates, picked up long ago at a flea market when her French wasn't quite good enough to catch every nuance. That gap in translation only added to their appeal.

Dating from the late 19th century, these hand-painted *assiettes parlantes* — talking plates — are a classic form of French folk pottery. Each shallow plate has a cream ground rimmed in blue, with a painted inner band in blue, orange or brown. At the centre, a loose spray of flowers in orange, green and yellow anchors a two-line verse in dark script. The brushwork is confident and spontaneous, the kind that comes from repetition rather than hesitation. The four sayings form a small anthology of flirtatious 19th-century wit: *Simplicity always enhances beauty; A little boldness often pleases beauty; She has finished with her faithful lover — who will give me back the cruel one;* and *Wine, tobacco and love make for happy days.*

Patricia uses them as dessert plates — passed around at the end of a meal, each guest discovers their own verse. Grouped on a kitchen shelf or arranged on a wall, the four make a witty, colourful display. A set that rewards both looking and reading.