Miniature white porcelain soup plate, measuring 3″ in diameter, personally-owned by Renoir as part of a child’s doll dinner service. The plate is beautifully transfer-decorated with lovely pink and green roses in the borders, with gilt accents encircling the rim. This was originally part of the Pierre Auguste Renoir Personal Artifacts and Archives Collection consigned to Hantman’s in 2005 by Renoir’s grandson, Paul Renoir (1924–2005), son of his youngest child Claude (1901–1969). As part of his inheritance, Claude received Renoir’s home, Les Collettes, in Cagnes-sur-Mer in the south of France.
Pierre-Auguste Renoir began working in a porcelain factory at age 13, where his drawing talents led to his being chosen to paint designs on fine china, and his skillful work earned a good income and the nickname Monsieur Rubens. In his book 'La Vie et l'Oeuvre de Pierre-Auguste Renoir,' his agent, Ambroise Vollard, describes seeing a miniature service in Renoir's dining room: 'I saw on the sideboard shelf of the dining room, a small coffee service and two candlesticks made out of porcelain, decorated by hand, well applied…‘Those are the only pieces I still have from my old career as a porcelain decorator,' Renoir told me.' This is also mentioned in 'Renoir in Time' by noted French art dealer Paul Durand-Ruel. RR Auction COA.
