D'Arceau-Limoges “Noël Vitrail” Christmas Plate, La Purification, André Restieau, with Original Factory Case, 1978

The Piece

A French porcelain plate painted as a stained-glass window. The central roundel shows the Presentation at the Temple — Mary in deep blue offering the infant Christ to Simeon, Joseph behind her with a candle, each figure haloed in gold and set into a lattice of leaded glass rendered in scarlet, cobalt, and sky blue. Every panel of colour carries the mottled, uneven wash of real medieval glass rather than flat printing, and the black leading is drawn heavily enough that the design reads correctly from across a room.

A gothic inscription runs around the roundel in illuminated capitals, and a second border of gothic foliage — blue, red, ochre, and rose on black — circles the rim. The porcelain beneath is bright white Limoges hard paste, and the whole thing has the quality that makes the format work: from a few feet away you stop seeing a plate and start seeing a window.

The reverse carries the full blue underglaze mark, the title, the artist's commentary in his own hand, and his initials. It comes with its original moulded factory shipping case, embossed HENRI D'ARCEAU & FILS, LIMOGES FRANCE around a fleur-de-lis.

History & Provenance

This is the fourth plate in the Noël Vitrail series — Christmas Stained Glass — issued by D'Arceau-Limoges for Christmas 1978 and designed by André Restieau, the artist responsible for the whole series. Restieau worked in the tradition of the great French cathedral windows, and the format was chosen deliberately: a circular plate is the closest thing in tableware to a rose window.

What makes this example better than most is the reverse. Alongside the mark, the title La Purification, and the edition number, Restieau wrote out his own note on the subject — explaining that he tried to convey the awe Simeon felt when Mary presented him the fulfilment of the promise, and that the candle Joseph holds stands for Christ as the light in Simeon's famous prayer, which he then quotes: a light to lighten the nations, and the glory of thy people Israel. Very few decorative plates carry the artist explaining his own intention in his own handwriting.

It is marked Première Édition and numbered BQ 779, and it still has the original D'Arceau factory case it shipped in — almost always discarded, and the reason a collector completing this series would choose this one.

Product Details

Why It Belongs in Your Home

Hang it where light will reach it. The whole design is built on the logic of a window, and against a white or limewashed wall the reds and blues do something no framed print manages at this size — they read as illuminated rather than printed. It works alone above a doorway or in a stair turn, and it anchors a plate wall beautifully, since the black leading gives it more graphic weight than the florals it will hang beside.

It is also a genuinely good Christmas object: seasonal without being kitsch, and substantial enough to bring out every December and put away in its own case in January. A note on care: this is decorative rather than dinnerware, so keep it off the table and out of the dishwasher entirely. Dust with a dry soft cloth, wipe only with a barely damp one, and keep it out of prolonged direct sun, which will eventually dull the reds. Store it in the factory case with a sheet of tissue over the face.