Apotropaic exposure of female genitalia The La Fontaine reference seems to be wrong in several of the quoted authorities who state it is from La Fontaine s Fables but the illustration they refer to is from La Fontaine s Nouvelles Contes The story in question is Le Diable de Papefigui re The illustration by Charles Eisen was copied to decorate a late 18th century porcelain cup and saucer which I found illustrated at Accessed where it is described as follows Paris cup and saucer with scenes from La Fontaine s Contes 1785 90Dark blue ground rich gilding of scrolls foliage trails and vases Reserves on the cup and saucer with grisaille scenes identified in gilt writing on the underside on the cup la jument du compere pierre and on the saucer le diable de papefiguiere No marks Height of cup 6 1 cm diameter of saucer 12 9 cm Circa 1785 90 This cup is of the S vres gobelet litron shape Although unmarked the quality of the gilding indicates one of the top Paris factories at the period such as the Duc d Angoul me s Dihl Gu rhard The two painted scenes are taken from the 1767 edition of the Contes de La Fontaine which was pirated from the famous 1762 Fermiers G n raux one with engravings after drawings by Charles Eisen Le Diable de Papefigui re is the story of a devil which comes to frighten a village The commentators state that the woman exposes herself to fighten the demon but I think the story is less straightforward I haven t found an English translation yet but it seems to me to be a variation of a well known folk theme in which Satan devil demons are tricked by a cunning peasant couple An English example would be the folk song The Devil and the Feathery Wife Talk