Cake plate with fish, butterfly, and shell

This platter and three footed plates come from a large table service commissioned by the French dealer and publisher Eugène Rousseau (1827-1890) and designed by the painter and print maker Felix Bracquemond. First exhibited in Paris at the Universal Exhibition in 1867 and considered to be the earliest example of French ceramics inspired by Japanese art, they sparked a genuine revolution in the history of style. The service was so popular it continued to be produced up to 1940.