Zoomorphic bird soup tureen Thierry & Chantal Robert Atelier Grés du Loir Poncé

Oval soup tureen or large terrine with a lid shaped like a magnificent bird with character, featuring bluish details, an orange beak, and stylised feathers. The head and tail of the bird serve as handles. This ceramic piece, produced by the couple Thierry & Chantal Robert from the Atelier des Grés du Loir in Poncé sur le Loir in the 1960s/70s, is signed underneath with their initials ATCR. Their work, originally utilitarian, made from local red clay with a blue-grey glaze pigmented with brown, is also very poetic, imaginative, and closer to artisanal art. An antique piece showing signs of age: small chips on one side of the bowl and another on the tail as shown in the photos, dimensions: 25x20x19.