As an avid Collector and Seller of European Art Pottery, in particular Faience, this Guide is designed to provide a basic understanding of the origins and characteristics of these fine collectibles.

Faience is generally defined as tin glazed earthenware. It is a mixture of local clays to which oxide of tin is added, so that it can become opaque and take on a white color. Hiding the impurities of the underlying clay body, it imitates the fineness of porcelain. A hand painted decoration is added to the clear surface. Faience became popular in Holland, Italy and France in the 17th century.

The more commonly known European towns important in Faience production in the late 19th and 20th centuries include Blois, CA, Charolles, Desvres, Gien, Luneville, Moustiers, Nevers, Quimper, St Clement and others. Faience ranges from tableware, through jardinieres and fountains, to clocks. 

Faience potteries, or tin-enameled earthenware, date back to ancient times. The actual name "faience" comes from "Faenza", a town in Italy, and was introduced in France in the 16th Century by migrant Italian potters. Earlier on, faience had often been thought to be nothing more than peasant ware, and not appropriate in elegant French chateaus or palaces. However, in the mid 19th Century, France and its royalty fell into financial crises after numerous wars and other national economic disasters.

The Industrial Revolution in the mid to late 19th Century brought new manufactured products and improved distribution of these goods. A newly emerged middle class sought items of aesthetic beauty for their lives and in their homes. Mass production allowed ordinary people to enjoy luxuries of life in a new era of economic independence.

The faience pottery of the late 19th and early 20th Century revived a long history of the potters’ art, and embodied an artistic and social statement of the times. The earlier historic decors of Nevers, Rouen, Moustiers, Strasbourg, and Marseilles were captured and reproduced by factories at Quimper, Desvres, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Malicorne and others.

Well-known design trends, artistic influences, and color palettes established from previous eras, most notably the 18th Century, were embodied in whimsical styles and bold new shapes to meet the tastes of a growing audience. These decorative faience pottery crafts provided pleasure and fantasy as well as serving function and utilitarian purposes. At this time Faience finally came into the height of popularity.

A faience antique can often be identified by the style, composition of the clay, form, glazes, colors, quality, and markings. Potters and decorators marks are a specialty area of study. As nearly all styles and designs in pottery were copied at later times, it is easy to be fooled when estimating age of antiques. Although dating antique faience and porcelain requires considerable expertise, there is a margin of uncertainty admitted by antique dealers and collectors. The consensus is that there can be a quarter of a century flexibility in establishing the period of an antique faience, unless it has a mark. Evaluating antique faience requires a lot of experience. Multiple factors other than the mark must be considered for determining a period: clay type, weight, color of clay if visible under glaze, color and type of decor, style, technique of making and of firing. As far as value is concerned, other aspects than age impact on price.

Collecting Faience and Art Pottery is both fascinating and rewarding, but like collecting any item of value great caution should be given to identification since many reproductions and copies exist.  Happy Collecting!