Limoges Butter with Pats outlet Squared Covered Butter Dish Matching Butter Pats Haviland Orange Blue Yellow Floral
8 individual serving dishes, 1 mother butter dish with lid and strainer.
From a time of hand churned butter that would drip milk as it sat on the table. The insert was used to keep the butter above the milk.
Floral outlet design appears to be a decal with the coloring handpainted in. Each pat is different, whether different decals were used, or colored in differently.
The butter dish is marked:
H & Co Depose - dark green stamp, used until 1887
Limoges Haviland & Co - lighter green, circular stamp, used 1879-1889
The porcelain is marked EL, under the glaze.
The 8 butter pats have the same green, circular stamp as the mother butter does but a different dark green stamp:
H&Co/L dated between 1876-1889
It works great for grapes or other fruit during a tea party. Put the rinsed fruit in the butter dish, any liquid will drain to the bottom and each person gets a fancy little plate of their own.
There are chips and a small crack, sight discolorations from age and use. 3 pats have small chips on their rim.