Pair of faience picture plates with peasant scenes

A pair of small rectangular wall plates with polychrome decor depicting two scenes after David Teniers. Both are adorned with a relief Rococo frame highlighted in brown, blue, and manganese violet.

One plate shows a scene in a rural landscape, featuring a couple sitting at a table in a rear view. A drinker with a jug stands next to the couple, and the innkeeper is right beside him. On the second plate, another couple is portrayed, with a pipe smoker and a sleeping man in the background. These genre scenes, along with some details, are partly inspired by a composition by David Teniers the Younger, a fair, whose original is preserved in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Cuba.

The relief Rococo-style framing is adorned with palms and shells in the corners. Similarly shaped plates, but with decor depicting lively scenes with Turkish figures, were part of the former Pflueger Collection. The Rococo-style borders, comparable to our plates, exhibit slight formal variations.

The German factory in Schrezheim produced a series of decorative wall plates, especially in small sizes, intended to resemble small paintings.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, the taste for genre scenes flourished, especially in Northern Europe. Artists increasingly focused on themes depicting the lives of peasants and family celebrations. This genre, widespread in several regions of Europe, was depicted on both faience and porcelain, and compositions by Teniers were highly popular among many artists. Their recurrence reflects the preference for Flemish painting of the Dutch Golden Age in the mid-18th century.