Unknown signature (two paintings)

[Boris]

Hello. The paintings were brought to St. Petersburg from Europe before 1917.
My attempts to establish an artist were unsuccessful.
I would appreciate any additional information.
These are porcelain plates 36 x 23 cm., in the original frame - 55 x 41 cm.

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[nux]

Hello

and greetings to St. Petersburg - I've read the other thread too.

as to these porcelain plates - have you checked for any impressed marks on them? sometimes such objects have and that could help to find out about the origin.

Because in this case - I read 'Hr. Mueller' - Mueller or Müller is perhaps the most common name f.e. in Germany meaning ме́льник. And it can be found often elsewhere in Europe as well.

But in Germany it would be mostly written with Umlaut - Müller - and Hr. would be the usual abbreviation of Herr = Mister (or Heinrich, Hermann etc.). Seems a bit unlikely.

Another detail is the letter 'r' - the way it is written reminds more of French / Benelux (even Italian) way of writing it and Hr. could perhaps mean Henry. Or ... just a guess. The motifs as well point more to the drirection of North Sea or Atlantic coast.

For the name is numerous in general, artists are as well. I checked some registers f.e. [Gäste sehen keine Links] and [Gäste sehen keine Links] and auction platform results but nothing or no one showed up so far.

A 'free' lookup via search engine is slightly difficult with this name, however I tried in four languages. Unfortunately no suitable results.

Regards
nux

[Boris]

Nux, thanks for the research. There are no signs on these porcelain plates indicating their origin.
Another question. The flag of France is visible at the stern of the vessel, can this, perhaps indirectly, indicate the country of origin of the paintings?

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[nux]

The flag of France is visible at the stern of the vessel,

I've noticed the flag but just have forgotten to mention it, sorry. It could be flag of France and that would match the a.m. points regarding the name and possible provenance.

And now with details visible - could it be that there is a little 'ornament' painted in yellow/gold in the red field? A coat of arms perhaps?

What is on the top? the blue flag? does it reveal more details too?

The type of the ship could be a kind of sloop, French 'côtre' [Gäste sehen keine Links] - with those sails 'côtre aurique' see picture 2 there [Gäste sehen keine Links]

So perhaps a merchant ship or pilot or another sort of yacht ...

I would suppose somewhere Bretagne or Normandie for both paintings, but small villages and light houses like the one to be seen are also numerous and not very specific.

What we do not know - even if the paintings look very well - is, if the maker was a professional. And then if only on porcelain or also on other picture supports. And in addition, if he/she was recognized and furthermore - if any information has survived till now resp. is available online. Or if it was done as a hobby. Or it was a professional porcelain painter doing things like that privately ..

Altogether - very scarce evidence. I would propose a chance to get more information: there is a French site for free antique estimations. If the language interferes, you can use a tranlator first to look up the content or to translate a written text before sending your inquiry

There it is [Gäste sehen keine Links]

Paintings chosen [Gäste sehen keine Links] - marine paintings [Gäste sehen keine Links] - click on the green button and a form shows up [Gäste sehen keine Links]
in Categorie choose again 'Estimation peinture' and under the text box you can upload your pictures

If you decide to try it and get an answer - any feedback then is welcome here

[Boris]

Nux, thank you very much for the detailed analysis of this painting and a detailed version of further actions!
About visible details: closer to the stern, I see a man in a hat, a hat on a cone with a blunt end (my imagination?), I see an anchor and may be just brush strokes indicating the name of the ship and I no longer see any small details ... Yes, on the mast there is a blue flag.
Today I’ll make an attempt to take the indicated actions and I will definitely inform you of the answer.
Thanks again!

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[nux]

the hat - maybe a (position) lamp? hanging from a wooden hook. I don't see a man in it

The anchor, yes. I am not familiar enough with naval/marine history to know, if a read anchor could be something special.

But - the name of the ship, yes, that looks like that. Only that it will be (for my opinion) nearly impossible to decipher. .. WI.. ? Perhaps a (French) marine enthusiast could - identifying exactly the ships type and having literature about vessel(s) names.

I think it is a cutter [Gäste sehen keine Links] -
with gaff rig or Гафельный парус и гаф-то́псель [Gäste sehen keine Links]

wiki.fr has got a list of (some) ships, but it ends 1870 [Gäste sehen keine Links]

The blue top flag - ?? not sure about the meaning so far.

Oh, btw - perhaps you could do us a favour in reply - pls have a look there, just the pic & links viewtopic.php?f=48&t=18488 - I did my best to find out about that ша́шка, but my language knowledge is very small and to get more information, better sources, difficult. Any more ideas or details on that?

[Boris]

Hello!
Today I received the response from “France Estimations”: “... I can not find the author, researches can help us ...”, “... your object can be valued from 200 € to 400 €...”
I will finish the research now. Pictures will continue to decorate the wall of the room ...
As for the saber, nux and Weinstock have given a sufficient description. I can add that there is a large catalog "Russian cold steel of the XVII-XX centuries" in Russian, but I do not have it ...
Once again special thanks to the authors of the answers on the topic, as well as to the entire forum.
Best wishes,
Boris.