12 dinner plates shellfishes "Grands Crustacés", Gien earthenware, 1961

12 dinner plates in hand-painted Gien earthenware, "Grands crustacés" (*Large shellfishes) model with a white background, adorned with fish scales in relief on the lip and shellfishes on the well. Each shellfish has its corresponding number marked on the back of the plate as below :

1 -Mussels
2 - Oysters
3 - Lobster
4 - Scallop
5 - Crab
6 - Sea snails
7 - Seau urchins
8 - Brown crab
9 - Langoustine
10 - Spider crab
11 - Shrimps
12 - Hermit crab

Each decor is signed BB on the front. On the back Faïencerie de Gien's mark with a castle and following inscriptions "Gien / France / Décoré à la main" matches with productions from 1960 to 1971. There is also the decor number and the painter's signature. 

This shellfishes service was created in 1923, re-edited in 1938 and 1961. Our set of 12 dinner plates is a 1961 edition. This service edition was stopped, then re-edited in a cheaper modified-version in 2015.

Gien Faïencerie was an earthenware manufactory created in France in 1823 by the former owner of the Montereau manufactory, Thomas Hall. It took its name "Faïenceries de Gien in 1875 and produced various decorations, particularly a famous Italian style one in an ochre background color, and was famous throughout the whole 19th century for its know-how.