Rare Saint-yves By Jean Boulbain - Henriot Factory - Brittany

Rare polychrome earthenware from the Henriot factory in Quimper, circa 1949. Height 33 cm.

Saint Yves is presented with a book where justice and charity are written, the cover of which is decorated in slight relief with the arms of the Kermartin family, the family name of Saint Yves (1253-1303). The Saint stands upright, at his feet we find the St Tugdual cathedral in Tréguier, a sign of "Charity" and a scale and a sword, signs of "Justice". Rectangular base titled in relief on the face "SAINT YVES" and on the back in hollow "Jean Boulbain priest".

Jean Boulbain (1911-1973) was born in St Brieuc. He was ordained a priest in 1936, he is a former student of Fine Arts, illustrator and drawing teacher at the Notre-Dame college in Guingamp. It was the war that revealed his extraordinary personality. In 1943, several abbots of the institution joined the resistance, including Abbot Boulbain, who was responsible for integrating young people from youth centers and other patronages into the network. Involved in the Shelburn network, his glorious feats of arms were numerous. After the War, the abbot was secretary of the Diocesan Commission of Sacred Art and first secretary general of the Friends of Mathurin Méheut. It was he who organized the first major retrospective of the painter's work in Lamballe in 1960. It was also he who had the Maison du Bourreau purchased in 1963 to establish a museum dedicated to Mathurin Méheut. It was probably his friend Augustin Tuset who brought Jean Boulbain into the Henriot factory after the war. He then also collaborated with the Kéraluc factory.