Lot no. 196 - 1
MOUSTIERS, FERAUD workshop probably, circa 1780.
Earthenware plate with polychrome decoration of a biblical scene with a frame in light relief, surmounted by a shell.
On the reverse, old labels with reproduction of the plate.
H. 22.5 cm.
L. 20 cm.
(a diagonal break in the lower right-hand corner, a shell added later, a break at the bottom of the shell).
Note: The painting depicts a biblical scene (chapters 6 to 9) from the Book of Genesis depicting Noah, followed by his three sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, after the Flood. In the top right-hand corner, God orders Noah and his sons to "bear fruit, multiply and fill the earth". He thus made a covenant with Noah, symbolised by the rainbow linking the Earth to the heavens, and promised not to destroy the creatures of the Earth. In the centre of the painting, we see the Ark resting on Mount Ararat to the east of present-day Turkey, on the Armenian high plateau. The three species of animals are represented, those of the air (birds), water (fish) and earth. These include, from left to right, a cat, a peacock, a kangaroo, a goat, a bull, an elephant, a cheetah, an ostrich, a dromedary and a billy goat, representing, according to the iconography of the time, domestic animals, farm animals and exotic animals from continents outside Europe. Finally, on the left, the sun is shining and water is flowing towards the right. At the top of the plaque is a scallop shell, which could refer to Santiago de Nisibe rather than Santiago de Compostela. According to a chronicle of the Church of Armenia, dated 1162, Noah's Ark was found on Mount Ararat by Saint-Jacques de Nisibe.