French Antique Ceramics at Sparrows Inc

France has a long, proud history in the field of ceramics. It is renowned for its porcelain, particularly Sevres and Old Paris, its faience from many different cities and factories, its 19th and 20th century majolica, and its pottery. Sparrows Inc specializes in 19th and early 20th century examples of the latter three groups of ceramics:antique faience, antique majolica and antique pottery. A number of them can always be viewed in our Online Gallery. If the Online Gallery does not contain an item to meet your specific needs, please contact us for information regarding other items in stock.

Sparrows Inc. carries antique faience from most of the French towns important in faience production in the late 19th and 20th centuries. These include antique Blois, CA, Charolles, Desvres, Gien, Luneville, Moustiers, Nevers, Quimper, St Clement and others, representing a wide range of faienceries, individual artists and forms. From Desvres, we carry items made by Fourmaintraux Freres, Fourmaintraux-Courquin, and Geo Martel. From Quimper, we have works by the HB, Henriot, Fouillen, and Porquier-Beau factories, among others. Forms range from tableware, through jardinieres and fountains, to clocks.

We carry antique majolica from many French sources, including Choisy-le-Roi, Gien, Longchamps, Luneville, Onnaing, Sarreguemines and Vallauris. Figural works from Choisy often are artist-signed, and we have had items from such Benezit-listed sculptors as Albert Carrier-Belleuse, Louis Carrier-Belleuse and Paul Comolera. In Sarreguemines, Sparrows always has on hand items bearing the early SARREGUEMINES MAJOLICA mark and numbered below 2000. From Vallauris, we particularly enjoy the figural works of Delphin Massier and the iridescent Art Nouveau glazes of Clement Massier.  There are also generally representative pieces of Palissyware from the firms of  makers such as Thomas Sergent.

There is a huge variety of objects made in France of pottery. Sparrows Inc carries items of several specific types: country pottery, Art Nouveau pottery and terra-cotta sculpture. Most of our country pottery, including confit pots, pitchers, gargoulettes, and mixing bowls are from Provence. Factories in Vallauris and Apt made, among their other production, the swirled colored glazes known as jaspe. Art Nouveau pottery in our inventory was made by a number of different artists, and most often represents the impressionist vision of plants and flowers. Terra cotta sculptures are both traditional, 19th century casts after Clodion, and works by other artists.

Further Reading

• Sarreguemines - Two Centuries of Faience.
• Majolica on Both Sides of the Atlantic, by Marilyn G. Karmason.
• The Gien Faience Works.
• Majolica International Society
• Quimper Club International
• Others resources - see Books about French Pottery and Porcelain