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August 2003: French faience and porcelain: history and glossary

When was antique faience discovered?

Is antique faience an invention of the French 18 century potters, the
Mesopotamian and Persian artisans, or the Chinese? Many today think antique faience was created by the French and the Italians. It in fact goes back to the 9 century. During the Abbasid dynasty in Mesopotamia, artisans developed tin-glazed earthenware - or faience.

When was antique porcelain first produced?

The Chinese potters had been working stoneware since the 3rd/2nd millennium BC. They had invented the potter's wheel, and had perfected the technique to vitrify glaze at 1000 degrees centigrade. In the 8 century and 9 century they kept on improving their technique. Finally, by always selecting finer and whiter clays, they discovered porcelain.

What is the difference between antique faience and porcelain
The major difference between faience and porcelain is in the whiteness
and the transparency of the clay body. A purer, finer, lighter clay is used
to produce porcelain. Special care is needed to remove the unwanted elements
from the common local clay. The glossary hereunder provides additional
details in the clay composition, firing and decorating methods of faience
and porcelain.

Dating antique faience:

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. So when we say c. 1800, the piece could be approximately 1775 to 1825.

Evaluating antique faience:

Of course factors other than the mark influence dating: 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. So when Guy and I select an antique, we need at least five or six compelling reasons -in addition to the price, to make our decision.

Glossary:

For a more complete Glossary visit our page

http://www.french-corner-antiques.com/glossary/

Earthenware:

Earthenware is a clay body which is red or brown in color and fired at relatively low temperature. The iron oxide gives it a red color. Earthenware refers to the clay body. It is porous if not covered with glaze. Earthenware is grouped according to the manner of decoration and glazing into Delftware, majolica or faience. Delft comes from Holland, majolica from Italy, faience from France. But all have a TIN GLAZE.

Faience:

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 opacify 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 word faience is also associated with the town of Faenza in Italy. Here is a good example of French faience:

http://www.french-corner-antiques.com/detail.php?iid=17

Porcelain:

It is a mix of quartz, feldspar and kaolin to produce an extremely pure white clay with a transparent body. Modern porcelain developed in early 18th century England and Meissen, Germany. The French caught on in Strasbourg, Luneville, St Clement and Sarreguemines..

http://www.french-corner-antiques.com/detail.php?iid=30

Why our mark across each picture of the site?

The delicate, nearly transparent inscription that you can find on almost all our photos now, has been added in order to prevent anybody from stealing antiques from our site. Our goal is to protect buyers from indelicate people. In April, dishonest people appropriated our pictures and descriptions! Then they offered them for sale on eBay. These vendors- often from Indonesia, request a wire payment to a foreign bank. My two cents of advice: please check the feedback section for each vendor before you send anything...

Till next time,

Daniele et Guy Veroli

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