Le Corbeau et le renard Here the cheese, dropped by the crow, has landed on the fox's head and made a major bump. The fox is still dizzy from the experience. This kind of humor, which I have found frequently on French post cards, I find here for the first time on tableware.
2023? The Fox and the Crow Fable Mug. Ceramic. 3¾" high. Identical scene on each side. $19.54 from Mangastory through Etsy, Jan., '25.
Lovely blues and brown, with just the touch of yellow in the crow's cheese. I am encouraged by the way that Etsy's craftspersons are discovering good motifs in the fables.
1890? 1 circular FC button, brass, .75" in diameter. Unknown source.
The image is familiar. This is one of our smaller buttons. No rim. The button itself is of one-piece construction, with a metal eyelet welded onto the back.
1930? 7" white plate from Sarreguemines, France. Inside a 1.5" rim there is a portrayal of FC (X 2). The front carries two inscriptions: "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Le Renard et le Corbeau." The back has "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Digoin/Sarreguemines/France." $33 from Brown Pelican Antiques, Panama City, FL, May, '99.
This illustration uses Grandville for the basic form of the raven but the rest of the scene is differently conceived. The briskly walking fox wears a cape and carries a hat.
1890? Two small brass FC buttons, 5/8" in diameter.
This button, by contrast with the Monleón exemplars, puts the fox on the lower right and the crow in the upper left. Tree branches shape the scene--and even make it hard to read on this small button! Closest in design to the larger button pictured in BBB on Plate 154 as #6. Like it, this button has a brass back and a self-shank.
1890? One brass FC button, 7/8" in diameter.
Identical in design with the two 5/8" FC buttons. BBB Plate 154 #6. Let me quote from there: "Stamped brass, cut out and backed by a painted metal liner, with a narrow, white metal underliner showing under the rim; brass back with self shank."
1890? 2 circular FC buttons, stamped brass, one silvered, both decorated with a border of facetted steels.
One image is silver in color, the other bronze. Ms. Monleón had lots of animal figurines, and so I came up with a challenge that she must have some fable figurines. She countered that she had buttons of FG but may not be able to find them. Why? She had hid them because she did not want to sell them! After fifteen minutes of searching she found them! This was the start of my fable button collecting! BBB Plate 152 #12 shows the same sort of facetted steels; the design, though distinct, comes closest to that in BBB Plate 152 #10.
1890? 1 circular FC button, brass surrounded by metal studs, 1¼" in diameter.
The pattern is the same as that on the Wiedeman button of similar proportions, but the button comes from a different mold; that is, two artists worked from the same visual pattern to make two different metal casts. The central circle containing the scene is slightly loose and off-center. Two-piece construction, with a metal eyelet welded onto the back. These studs do not have the luster of the Monleón buttons.
1890? 1 circular FC button, red tinted brass, 1 1/16" in diameter.
Though the image seems very famliar, I cannot place the button in BBB. The scene is basically the same as that on my two Monleón buttons. The button itself is of one-piece construction, with a metal eyelet welded onto the back.
1930? 7" white plate from Sarreguemines, France. Inside a 1.5" rim there is a portrayal of "The Fox and the Cat." The front carries two inscriptions: "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Le Chat et le Renard." The back has, in sketchy form, "Fables de la Fontaine" and "Digoin/Sarreguemines/France." $23.49 from Lea Belew, Beeville, TX, through Ebay, Oct., '00.
The scene here makes a fascinating contrast with Grandville's original. This scene is busier, filling in all the gaps. That scene left room for picturing in the background the differing escape methods and their results. That is, one can see the cat run up the tree while dogs catch the fox. There is a small nick in the black rim line at about 8 o'clock.
