French Pottery.
The art of the potter flourished in Gaul before the time of the Romans, but this early pottery was of a coarse kind, used mostly for domestic purposes, and of an unglazed variety (poteries mates). The use of a vitreous glaze was common in France as early as the thirteenth century, and in a grave that had the date of 1120, in the Abbey of Jumièges, two small broken vases were found covered with a yellowish lead glaze. We are informed by an old French chronicler that “On fait des godets à Beauvais.” A godet was a goblet or cup of glazed fayence, with a wide mouth, and often had a cover, and was usually silver-mounted. Beauvais was noted in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries for its glazed pottery.
It has been mentioned before that the Italian artist, Girolamo della Robbia, introduced the famous enamelled earthenware invented by his grand-uncle, Luca della Robbia, into France, when he came by invitation of Francis I. to decorate the exterior of the Château de Madrid, in the Bois de Boulogne, and the Pesaro maiolica painter, Francesco, also settled and worked in France; but apparently little came of these attempts to naturalise Italian pottery on French soil, except that the art must have been spread in some degree by the workmen, and by French artists who would naturally have assisted the Italians, and the traditions left by the latter must have helped considerably to influence the subsequent fabrication of enamelled earthenware.
Oiron Ware.
To take our subject in a chronological order, the wares of Oiron, or “Henri-Deux ware,” as the name they are better known by, must be noticed first.
Until a recent date the origin of this was only guessed at, but the late M. Benjamin Fillon by his researches has cleared up the mystery. It appears now that the invention of this scarce and unique ware was due to Hélène de Hangest, Dame de Boissy, the widow lady of Gouffier, who was formerly governor to Francis I. This lady established the pottery in 1564 in the Château of Oiron, near Thouars; and, being gifted with strong artistic tastes, conducted the work with great success, assisted by two skilful collaborateurs, François Charpentier and Jehan Bernart. The former was the modeller, and the latter—Bernart—was her librarian, and the artist who designed and adapted the stamped ornament which is so characteristic of this ware. This ornament is copied from the bookbindings of the period, and seems to have been stamped in colour on the Oiron ware with tools similar to those used in the bookbinding craft. The vase or tazza (Fig. 46) is a fine example of this ware of the earlier period, showing the stamped decoration. The ornament is identical with the peculiar Italo-Saracenic style of the Grolier and contemporary bookbindings.
Fig. 46.—Tazza, Henri-Deux Ware. (S.K.M.)
The decoration is of a dark brown colour, sometimes heightened with pink, on an ivory-coloured ground.
Another and later class of this ware has modelled decorations in high relief. The colouring and technical skill generally was also improved, as may be seen in the profusion of small figures, masks, and festoons that were added to the candlesticks and vases after the earlier period, but these additions were not always improvements in the general design. The colouring is also of a greater variety: ochre, green and blue, and sometimes gold, was added in small quantities.