Popular France

A collection of carefully chosen, tried and tested remedies for all diseases that afflict horses, cows and sheep, with a dictionary of plants and their properties
1747, Pierre Druon Helle

This anthology presents the remedies to prescribe against the illnesses suffered by horses, cows and sheep, as well as a dictionary of plants that references their virtues. It was written by Pierre Druon Helle in 1747 as a contribution to the movement of thought and progress in knowledge of animal medicine.

Blacksmith’s sign
First half of the 20th century

The “St. Eligius bouquets”, the name given to this type of object in reference to the patron saint of metalworkers, are assemblies of smaller versions of different irons, instruments and tools. These were a real demonstration of expertise and served as the blacksmith’s shop sign.

Gourd of Glazed terracotta
1938

Since its creation in 1936, one of the main lines of the policy for enriching the collections of the National Museum of Popular Arts and Traditions was to collect ceramics made in the different regions of France, as seen in this object, acquired just two years later.

Marotte
Latter half of the 19th century - early 20th century

Used by milliners and hairdressers to create or display their models, a marotte is a mannequin made of wood, cardboard, wax or other materials. They are designed to look like a woman’s head so hats, wigs and other headgear can be placed on top.

Cross pendant set with pentacrinites fossils
19th century

The fossils of pentacrinites (an animal from the same family as sea urchins and sea stars) are shaped like five-pointed stars. This appearance, which is both very geometrical and poetic, earned them a longstanding reputation as protective amulets, particularly against lightning.

Weathervane

Typically installed on rooftops, weathervanes are devices that comprise a rotating component mounted on a fixed vertical axle and whose purpose is to show the direction of the wind, as well as its cardinal point of origin. They are often decorated with an image of a cockerel, typically made of wrought iron openwork, that pivots to point into the wind.

The cockerel was said to have been the bird of light, the emblem of Christ and of the intelligence of God, announcing the day and calling all souls to a Christian way of life.

Heart-shaped Padlock
1954

Many objects, sometimes simple, sometimes finely worked, are dear to those who keep them, because they are signs of affection, gifts, or symbols of a union that can survive separation. As the organ that controls our blood flow, the heart has long been considered to be the centre of our passions and our feelings. While it may represent the impulse that brings mankind to God or, on the contrary, divine love in depictions of the Sacred Heart, it symbolizes romantic love in many different objects given as tokens of desire or affection.

Fodder press
Circa 1897

This fodder press was designed to produce bales of hay. Technically speaking, it marks the beginnings of the mechanization of certain agricultural tasks, the transitional stage between completely manual haymaking, when the hay was stored loose in lofts or in stacks, to a time when bales of hay are made directly in the fields using a tractor-drawn baler.

The Great Lake of Barbary
Circa 1730-1775, Jean-François Daumont

A perspective view is a form of print specifically designed to be viewed through a series of mirrors and lenses, set up to create an impression of depth. Typically etched into a copper plate, the perspective view presents subjects whose setting is architecture or a landscape with especially straight lines.

Perspective views were a real societal phenomenon in Europe beginning in the first quarter of the 18th century, where they were produced in large numbers and disseminated for nearly a century.