four roundels and six hearts
Four roundels and six hearts: the decoration on an old Breton folding spoon, discovered in detail as I traced the outlines of the patterns for a future book about the decoration of these lovely old spoons. This spoon is in the reserves of the Museum at Nantes. Nantes, at the mouth of the Loire river used to be the chief city of the Duchy of Brittany until 1532, when Brittany and Kingdom of France were united. Nantes and the surrounding département , the Loire-Atlantique were part of the Région of Brittany until after the second World War, when they were split off to form part of a new Région called Pays de la Loire. This was not a popular move at the time and still remains contentious. Most inhabitants of Nantes consider themselves to be breton to this day. So back to the Museum at Nantes. The Musée d'histoire de Nantes is to be found within the Château des ducs de Bretagne, which is a building that is every bit as impressive as it sounds, and well worth a visit in