A Late 19th Century Choisy-le-Roi HB and Cie Relief-Molded Faience Plate

A circular earthenware cabinet plate manufactured by Hippolyte Boulenger and Compagnie at the Choisy-le-Roi pottery in France. The plate features high-relief molded decoration in the barbotine style, finished in a monochrome lime-green glaze. The central scene depicts three figures in 18th-century costume engaged in a game of jeu de paume, an early form of real tennis, played over a low net. The figures are rendered in dynamic poses with rackets and a ball, framed by stylized foliate branches. The border is decorated with various incised symbols and characters. The reverse of the plate is finished in a contrasting pale celadon-green glaze and bears a printed black factory mark. The mark consists of a stylized HB monogram with Cie to the upper right, underlined by a flourish above the words choisy-le-Roi in script. A small four-lobed mark is also present to the left of the main factory stamp.