My Ebay stamp dealer from Bishop’s Stortford (northeast of London) included this French postcard and stamp with my purchase.
It is of a cast iron balustrade plaque by French architect and designer Hector Guimard (1867 – 1942).
Look for the stylized ‘M’ at the bottom.
Guimard was a prominent practitioner of the art nouveau style.
Issued Jan. 22, 1994 (one of a set of four stamps)
Perf. 13¼ x 12¼ | Design: Jean Paul Véret-Lemarinier | Litho. | Engraving: ITVF Boulazac | No Watermark
2993 CMK 2.80Fr Multicolored | French Metro balustrade by Hector Guimard
[Source: stampworld.com]
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More about Guimard from Wikipedia:
Between 1890 and 1930, Guimard designed and built some fifty buildings, in addition to one hundred and forty-one subway entrances for Paris Metro, as well as numerous pieces of furniture and other decorative works.
However, in the 1910s art nouveau went out of fashion and by the 1960s most of his works had been demolished, and only two of his original Metro edicules were still in place.
I took them while I was in Paris in Sept. 2008.
This entrance is for Pasteur station on Line 6 and Line 12 of the Paris Métro, in the 15th arrondissement. It features several of the Guimard balustrade plaques and meticulously designed street lamps. Even the font (the lettering style) for the ‘Métropolitain’ sign, was Guimard’s invention.
[Shot with Canon EOS 20D f/14, 1/400s, ISO-1600, 36mm focal length]