Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice older book in great condition. Pages in excellent condition. Images are beautiful bright and vivid. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> Old French faience has always been so eagerly sought by collectors that it is surprising how little attention has been paid to it by English writers. No doubt this has been principally due to difficulties in consulting original research material which is widely scattered but an authoritative work discussing the subject in detail haslong been wanted. This book by Jeanne Giacomotti of the Louvre is especially intended to give the collector essen- tial information about an extremely important branch of ceramic art. It will not only add to their appreciation of the wares themselves but will help to identify origin and date of manufac- ture. The frequent references to French provincial museums where some of the rare things are to be seen will suggest an itinerary to travellers anxious to pursue the subject. Mlle Giacomotti begins with the emergence of faience as a French national art which flour- ished especially in the seventeenth century. She discusses the hazardous background created by the system of privileges and the monopoly of the Royal porcelain factory of S?vres against which so many factories created superb designs in the eighteenth century. She records every variety of importance dur- ing the period and illustrates every phase of its development in a wealth of magnificent plates in colour and monochrome. She tells the story of an industry which came almost to a standstill in the nineteenth century and is now once more re gaining its old popularity. The faience glaze is especially suited to de corative painting and artists are increasingly turning to it as a medium for important work. (OS)