Page 48 - THE BOOK MCLHHC

MAISON CHENAL & LACOUR HOUSE PROPERTIES & COLLECTION A Louisiana French Creole Tout Ensemble
FRENCH POTTERY FRENCH POTTERY INTRODUCTION, ANTIQUE PARALLELS
BY JACK HOLDEN
Early utilitarian wares in the LaCour House.
Unlike English utilitarian ware, little is written about everyday French pottery. There is even less archaeological examination of sites in France or French sites in America for that matter. Vernacular pottery has been ignored by French academics and collectors have focused on the masterpieces of French ceramics. Organizing everyday ware for study has suffered.
It has long been thought by collectors that faience’s decoration is characteristic of the various regions of France where the pottery was made. However, the various kilns copy each other and identification of site of manufacture may be difficult. As a result, historical archaeologists interested in early French sites in America, had to invent a new nomenclatures and jargon for French utilitarian wares with the resultant usual internecine academic battles (See French Colonial Pottery, An International Conference 2007 p 80). At best, current identification is tentative and awaits the promise of research at French kiln sites as well as chemical and physical analysis.
French utilitarian wares found in Louisiana are also discussed in our Introduction to English ceramics. With the exception of late Rouen ware, Provence jars and potties from the South of France, most French utilitarian wares found in Louisiana date before the end of the French and Indian Wars. After
the war English pottery became dominant. Our collection of the earliest of the utilitarian wares is focused in the LaCour House (mid 18th century).
Inventories of a deceased person’s possessions in colonial Louisiana often listed faïence plates and Provence jars in the entries. Unfortunately, faïence in the early inventories is a generic term for tableware and is comparable to our use of the word china for tableware. Correct translation of the inventories can be difficult and I use term French faïence to identify a tin glazed white pottery with a light tan or orangey matrix. The glaze has a tendency to craze with age (craquelée) and the pottery chips easily.
Provence jars are large storage containers used to ship various food stuffs to Louisiana – including oils and grains. These large jars were made in the Biot region of Provence and have a soft tan matrix. The interiors and rims of the jars are sealed with an orange to green glaze. Although olive oil jar is the collector’s and antique dealer’s jargon for these large storage vessels, I prefer Provence jar since it suggests the origin and multiple uses of these huge jars. The term Provence jar is listed as such in the inventories.
What does one do with these large jars after their contents are used? Fortunately these receptacles functioned well as cisterns to store water or settle the muddy waters from the rivers. Later in the 19th
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