Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Teatime Tête-à-Tête ~ Tea on a Tray


Welcome to Tea on a Tray Blog Hop
hosted by Katherine @ Katherine's Corner.
Join me for my tea time and a little
Tête-à-Tête about French faience.
If you popped over from Dinner At Eight, welcome!
I know you enjoyed my friend, Sandra's, delightful tea.

I'm a collector at heart, and dishes are one of my passions.
I wanted to share these special ceramics with you in
case you are new to Quimper and French faience.

My mother-in-law gave me my first 
pieces of Quimper soon after I married her son.
We were out shopping, and I happened to notice two small plates with charming peasants.  She bought them for me, and my love of Quimper pottery grew in the years to come.  The pair hang on our kitchen wall.

I would pickup new pieces on the rare occasion, never knowing the history of this charming hand painted French pottery until a group of girlfriends gave me the antique inkwell shown above.  
I quickly learned that this special pottery, made from the 
local clay around Quimper, France and decorated with a tin 
oxide glaze, has been produced for over 300 years.  
Tin glazed earthenware is much like Dutch Delft and Italian Majolica.
The marks on the inkwell and the chamberstick date to 1922.
The fan vase is from the late 1800s.

Once I began to research Quimper, my love of antiques led me to seriously collecting Quimper pottery along with other French faience hand made and hand painted in the countryside of France.
I chose this sweet set of HB Quimper cups and saucers 
especially for our tea tray today.
My motto is, "Pull out the good stuff and use it!"

The HB Quimper mark dates these pieces to the late 1800s.
Though there were many designs produced on Quimper pottery
the peasant design that features the Breton (male) and Bretonne (woman) is ubiquitous with Quimper pottery.

The charm of this pottery is that each piece is still 
hand painted by artisans in the town of Quimper, France.

The predominant color is French blue  
with touches of yellow, red, and green, so I chose 
blue as the theme to carry on through with my tea tray.

I used a large blue damask napkin 
to cover the white wicker tray, 
and included individual linen cocktail napkins 
with French blue dots.

Blueberry muffins were made in 
paper cups that repeat the dot pattern.

Adding a paper doily always elevates the presentation.

I've made these fresh 
blueberry muffins especially for you!

I filled one of my Mother's glass baskets with fresh 
blueberries in case you want to nibble on a few.

The vintage silver plate tea pot holds boiling hot water.

Vintage silver and mother of pearl tea strainer spoons
hold Mariage Fréres Marco Polo tea leaves 
as the hot water is poured into the cup.

One can let it steep to the desired strength.

Aren't these the cutest sugar cubes?

One lump or two?

The muffins are made with fresh blueberries 
and cornmeal, which adds interesting texture.
You can find this yummy recipe here.

Thank you for joining me today.  
If you have any questions about Quimper pottery, please ask.
I hope you will take a minute to leave a comment before you
hop over to JT Wisdom's @ Bubbling With Elegance and Grace to join her teatime.  

I trust you are enjoying all the delightful teatime posts.
Again, a special "thank you" to  Katherine @ Katherine's Corner 
for hosting our "Tea on a Tray" blog hop.








27 comments:

  1. Beautiful, Sarah! I love your wallpaper too.

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  2. I always wondered where your love of Quimper came from now I know:) She new her stuff:)The muffins look so moist and delish nd I love examining your treasures..My gosh your silver sparkles:)

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  3. Sarah,
    I am not familiar with these patterns but my goodness, i just love them!! So pretty and different!! What a delightful tea presentation!! And the goodies all look so yummy!! Thanks for the inspiration!! I I enjoyed "touring" with you today!!
    Hugs,
    Deb
    Debbie-Dabble Blog

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  4. How cute your cups are! I am not familiar with that stoneware, but I can appreciate your love of it! I agree, pull out the good stuff and use it, and do so often!

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  5. I have never heard of this type of China, but will definitely be on the look out for it! So beautiful, thank you!

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  6. So pretty and unique Sarah! I'm so glad you shared the backstory with us today. Just recently, I noticed a few pieces while walking through an antique mall here in Denver. I had no idea what I was looking at but they caught my eye instantly. Thanks so much for sharing your knowledge. Great touring with you!

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  7. Sarah, I've heard of Quimper ware but did not really know anything about this darling stoneware. Thanks for the information, and the history lesson. Your tea tray is warm and inviting. What a nice way to spend an afternoon.
    RR

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  8. Sarah, love the Quimper pottery but I especially liked that you filled the glass bowls from your Mother with blueberries. The muffins look delicious as well. I love wicker trays and yours is such a nice size. Would love to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea.

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  9. Oh Sarah, I am smitten with your French pottery and I love your baking cups too! I would love to join you for tea!

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  10. I love your tea tray, Sarah! The blue and French theme appeals to me. I need to check-out the blueberry muffin recipe, too: they look delicious! :D I also enjoyed reading about how you started collecting Quimper.

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  11. I love your French pottery cups. I have a plate from our visit to France many years ago. I love it. You have an extensive collection and interesting pieces, like the link well & the fan. Those mother of pearl tea spoons stopped me in my tracks. The whole styling is stunning. Happy to be touring with you today. XO- MaryJo

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  12. You have a wonderful collection and it was fun to learn about it - Your muffins look delish!!

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  13. You have a wonderful collection and it was fun to learn about it - Your muffins look delish!!

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  14. Oh Sarah, this is so delightful! I so enjoyed reading about this history of Quimper, I knew you collected it but I had no idea how really special it is! I love the pattern you chose. You can never go wrong with blue and yellow, it is such a happy color combination~ Your blueberry muffins have my mouth watering, such a lovely tea treat! Where did you ever find those sugar cubes, they are adorable! A truly lovely tray~
    Jenna

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  15. So beautiful! The Quimper and French fiancé transferware is so pretty & interesting. I love that it's not the typical flowers or geometric designs as usual. Pinned! Happy touring with you!
    Niki | Life as a LEO Wife

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  16. I've always loved Quimper! Your pieces are so beautiful - and those muffins look amazing! Great to tour with you!
    Shelley

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  17. Thank you for introducing me to Quimper, your tea time setting is lovely and blueberries muffins are one of my favorite things. Did you make the sugar cubes?Thank you for joining in the fun. Pinned! xo

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  18. Your French-inspired tray perfectly complements the Quimper pottery! It's fascinating that the pattern has continued nearly unchanged for 300 years, despite the hands of many craftsmen contributing to its history. It was also interesting to note that the cups lack handles and the saucers are nearly bowls. Love the linens! And I'd like a muffin please!

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  19. Please forgive my tardiness to your beautiful tea party. I enjoyed your blog post very much. It is so interesting to learn more about Quimper pottery and how personal these pieces are to you. I love your stories. By the way, I was gifted a lovely piece by a precious friend ;) .I will treasure it always.
    You served my favorite blueberries and blueberry muffins. And if I were there I would only ask for one lump, they are too pretty to use.
    Thank you Sarah for sharing your knowledge and love of collecting.

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  20. Wow..yes pull out the good stuff and use it! Your collection is dreamy and we can almost smell the muffins!

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  21. Sarah this tea brought back such happy memories of when I lived near the Alsatian border. Love the dishes and the sugar cubes are indeed so cute!

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  22. Sarah, I love how your french inspired tea tray came out. What a beautiful collection you have. Those muffins look so delicious too. Fun to be hopping with you.Have a great week.

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  23. Sarah,
    Wow, is all I can say. Your dishes are gorgeous. That inkwell is beautiful. Your blueberry muffins look so yummy and those sugar cubes are so precious.
    Hugs,
    Bev

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  24. Sarah, I love your Quimper! I have a beautiful set of the yellow gifted to me by our lovely friend, Rita! I love Quimper’s history and thanks for sharing it so I could refresh my memory! I would love to join you for a delicious blueberry muffin and tea with a cute sugar cube.

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  25. This is Maria from Simple Nature Decor, That French pottery tea set is gorgeous. Love the way you styled it.Perfect tea party.

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  26. Well, you know I love your Quimper (and treasure the pieces you shared with me). It looks wonderful on your tea table and I think serving blueberry muffins with the beautiful blue tones in the pottery is brilliant. And yes, darling sugar cubes, too! It warms my heart to know your collection, which you so love and have expanded over the years, was started with a gift from your mother in law. That made me smile so very much.

    I hope you have a wonderful week and weekend, Sarah. And a beautiful March. Onward to spring!

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  27. You know I'm one of your biggest fans of your collections. We bonded early on Quimper, and although I 'bequeathed' my Soleil pattern to Pam (and her daughter -in-love loves it!), I still have several.of the blue & white. Your post is chock full of beauty, Sarah. I love that you're using your collections. 💙🤍

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Thank you to each of you who take the time to leave a comment. I read and appreciate each and every one and will respond to any questions. Your notes are the only way I know who has stopped in for a visit.