Palissy ware is a 19th-century term for

ceramics A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant, and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porce ...

produced in the style of the famous French potter

Bernard Palissy Bernard Palissy (; c. 1510c. 1589) was a Huguenot, French Huguenot pottery, potter, Hydraulics, hydraulics engineer and craftsman, famous for having struggled for sixteen years to imitate Chinese porcelain. He is best known for his so-called "rus ...

(c. 1510–90), who referred to his own work in the familiar manner as ("in the rustic style"). It is therefore also known as rusticware. Palissy's distinctive style of

polychrome Polychrome is the "practice of decorating architectural elements, sculpture, etc., in a variety of colors." The term is used to refer to certain styles of architecture, pottery, or sculpture in multiple colors. When looking at artworks and ...

lead-glazed earthenware in a sombre earth-toned palette, using naturalistic scenes of plants and animals cast from life, was much imitated by other potters both in his own lifetime and especially in the 19th century. In this revival, pottery in Palissy's style was produced by Charles-Jean Avisseau of Tours, who rediscovered Palissy's techniques in 1843, his relatives the Landais family of Tours, Georges Pull of Paris, Maurice, and Barbizet. The number of 16th-century pieces attributed to Palissy himself is now much less than in the past, and attributions tend to be cautious, as for example: "workshop or imitator or follower of Palissy". Barbizet palissy ware wall plate

Portuguese Palissy ware was produced by the potteries of Mafra, Jose Alves Cunha, José Francisco de Sousa, Cezar, Herculano Elias, and Augusto Baptista de Carvalho. Twentieth-century reproductions are extremely common. it is now difficult to identify which 16th-century works in the ''rustique'' manner are actually from Palissy's own workshop except by comparison with either fragments excavated in 1878 from remains of the

grotto A grotto or grot is a natural or artificial cave or covered recess. Naturally occurring grottoes are often small caves near water that are usually flooded or often flooded at high tide. Sometimes, artificial grottoes are used as garden fea ...

that he certainly decorated at the

Tuileries Palace The Tuileries Palace (, ) was a palace in Paris which stood on the right bank of the Seine, directly in the west-front of the Louvre Palace. It was the Parisian residence of most French monarchs, from Henri IV to Napoleon III, until it was b ...

for

Catherine de' Medici Catherine de' Medici (, ; , ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Italian Republic of Florence, Florentine noblewoman of the Medici family and Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to Henry II of France, King Henry II. Sh ...

, who called him to Paris in 1566 or from excavations at the site of his

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

workshop in the

Palais du Louvre The Louvre Palace (, ), often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Ger ...

. Many museums have now become cautious in their attributions. This distinctive style of pottery is characterized by three-dimensional modeled, often aquatic, animals such as snakes, fish, lizards, frogs, and snails arranged onto large platters (wall plates, wall platters, chargers). Typically, each component is modeled and painted individually. Palissy ware is also the name given by Minton & Co for the earthenware later known as 'majolica', decorated with a mostly new range of coloured glazes.
: "...what is now known as majolica was a range of vibrantly coloured lead glazes launched in 1849 as Palissy ware. Only later did these become known as majolica ware". Victoria and Albert Museum. A significant collection of Palissy ware is housed in the New Orleans Museum of Art, donated by the actress and writer

Brooke Hayward Brooke Hayward is an American actress. Her memoir, ''Haywire (book), Haywire'', was a best-seller. Early life and education Born in Los Angeles in 1937, Hayward is the eldest of three children born to agent turned film, television, and stage p ...

Notes

References

* Atterbury, Paul, and Batkin, Maureen, ''Dictionary of Minton'', Antique Collectors' Club, 1990. * Arnoux, Leon, ''British Manufacturing Industries, Gutenberg, 1877

* Duchin, Brooke Hayward. ''Grotesquerie: Form, Fantasy and Function in 19th Century European Ceramics; the Collection of Brook Hayward Duchin,'' New Orleans Museum of Art, 1997.

External links

The Majolica Society
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palissy Ware Pottery English pottery American pottery French pottery Austrian pottery