Faience

All four of these cow creamers bear a con-joined “AR” as well as an A, and I was assured by staff of the Fiaencerie when I communicated with them a number of years ago that they were indeed made by the Founder, Alfred Renoleau, in the 1920s. I asked if they were still making cow creamers or decanters, and they said that they weren't but were planning to develop a new version. I really regret that the faiencerie is now gone.

Here 2 of my Renoleau creamers, both bearing a banner with “St Malo” on their neck.   The large one (left picture) that's missing its lid measures about 6 1/2" x 10" and the and the smaller one about 4 1/4" x 7 3/4". Since St Malo is a noted tourist spot, I think it most likely that these cows date from the early 20s or perhaps 30s, certainly pre-WWII, when folks still purchased lovely items like this as souvenirs of their vacations.

Here are the other two from the top picture - on the left, a cow creamer with the crest of Dieppe, another well know vacation spot in the Seine-Maritime Department of Normandy (and the site of an allied assault entitled Operation Jubilee on 19 August 1942, well after this cow had mover to a safer spot). The one on the right bears a crest marked H IV - I have yet to figure out who exactly that was, but wonder if this cow was made for him (or her).

Well, the collection has now grown to include a 5th from the Renoleau studio, this time marked for ‘Dinan’ and bearing a maker’s mark that looks sort of like an open ‘4’.  Presumably it was decorated by someone other than the ‘master’, or he just left his initials off.  It’s just a bit smaller than the larger St Malo cow.  Like St Malo, Dinan is a popular medieval town for tourists to visit in Brittany.  It sits above the River Rance, and in addition to the port the medieval town on the hilltop features many fine 13c buildings and a 3km section of city walls. From Wikipedia I also learned that the ~1066 Bayeux Tapester has a section that shows “Here the knights of Duke William fight against the men of Dinan”.

Make that 6. This one is missing her lid, but is otherwise in great shape and was so cheap I couldn't resist.

Well.. this isn’t a creamer, but it is another cow from Alfred Renoleau and bears the same marks as its relatives.  I believe it was designed to hold a liqueur or cordial of some sort – thus the spigot in the side and the little cups (two are missing).

Here is another lovely Renoleau decanter, this time pulled by a pair of bulls.  The spigot is (or was – it has been replaced by a cork) in the back of the barrel, and cups apparently were separate because none came with this piece.

Here is a different version of a cow liqueur or cordial decanter. It bears the mark of a connected “VR” and the word “France”.  Although it came to me without history, from an (almost) identical one offered on eBay (for $989…mine was $125 a few years ago) I believe it to be Rouen décor, late 19c, made in Desvres by the Fourmaintraux Freres factory, circa 1879-1887.  The one on eBay has ‘Mont-Saint-Michel’ written on the bottom, so I presume that this magnificent beast, like the Renoleau ones, was made to be sold as a souvenir.

This large cow decanter bearing a barrel is quite similar to the one above, although smaller (10”x9½” vs 12”x12”) and with just two hooks and cups on each side instead of three. It is marked on the bottom for “Le Trémont” which is in Normandy. It also bears the numbers “1804/1” and the signature of the artist.  The cups are not the originals but are from the same region, and to my mind match quite nicely. It came to me from Germany.

This lovely faience decanter with its cups on metal hooks is by Georges (Geo) Martel of Desvres, France. It is interestingly also marked ‘Cabourg’ on the base, which is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region, so – just like the decanter above marked for Mount St Michel, -it was presumably made for sale at this popular tourist town (we learn from Wikipedia that it was from Cabourg that William the Conqueror drove the troops of Henry 1 of France back into the sea, also that it was a favorite vacation spot for Marcel Proust).   Searching the web for information about Geo Martel, we learn from http://www.archivespasdecalais.fr that “In 1900, Georges Martel bought from Gaëtan Level a ceramics factory located in Desvres, specialized in the reproduction of old pieces (Rouen, Delft, Nevers). The first world war brought the production of earthenware to a halt, because most of the staff as well as Georges Martel himself were mobilized. It was not until the intervention of Mrs. Martel-Legrand in the course of the year 1916 to restart the factory. Although Georges Martel is recognized around the world, the war has changed its commercial network and new directions are needed…. In 1927, he worked in parallel; with workshops in iron art. …Unfortunately, the economic, social and political problems of our time are not right for the manufacture, which closes definitively its doors in April 2003. …”.  There is quite a bit of his lovely faience pottery available on a number of sites.

This may also be a good spot to add a bit more about this style of faience, again from the web: “While faience can be created from a wide mixture of clays, it is foremost distinguished by the milky opaque white color achieved by the addition of tin oxide to the glaze. French faience is typically divided into two types. Grand feu (high fire) describes pieces that have been decorated with glaze and metallic oxides before being fired a single time at a high temperature of around 1650°F (900°C). Petit feu (low-fire) faience, developed in the second half of the eighteenth century, refers to a process whereby the clay body is fired before being glazed and decorated with metallic oxides and then fired again at a lower temperature; pieces can also go through a third firing. Grand feu pieces have a more limited color palette that consists of blue, yellow, brown-purple, and green. By contrast, the lower firing temperature of petit feu faience enabled both greater precision in painting techniques and variety in the range of colors.”

This creamer comes (via eBay) from an antique dealer in Lisse, the Netherlands, who indicated that it was "possibly Fourmaintreau Desvres, circa 1890” (and could provide no further information).  A web article from ‘Arts and Antiques in Florida’, authored by John Beers, notes that “Desvres, situated in north central France, has been a pottery center since early times, having excavated pottery kilns from the Roman era. In the 1870’s the heyday of Desvres pottery began as the Formaintraux family of potters perfected their craft in the style and manor of old Rouen. Their retail operations provided cachepots, jardinières, plates, candlesticks, miniatures, and other decorative items. Desvres pottery is known for a creamy white background decorated with bright “Delft” blue, brilliant lemon yellow, iron red and sage green.”  I’ve shown the base with its marks, and as always would appreciate help in attribution.

These three lovely old creamers came to me from the UK. I haven’t been able to identify the mark, but by virtue of their style and decoration I believe that they are likely early 20c faience.

This one is very similar to the one on the left above, but has no lid and a very different mark. Apparently these were popular enough to hve been made by more than ine pottery - which seems to be verified by the one below which has no makers mark.

This delightfully colored version is marked “Rouen – fait main” providing a bit more information on their provenance but nothing about the makers.

I have included this modern creamer, of fairly standard shape, in the Faience theme because it is clearly marked “Desvres, France”, with a hand-written “Breiz” and a maker’s mark of a circle with rays with a script “GF” inside. It’s by no means as fancy as the older ones, but looks a lot like much of the fairly modern ‘Quimper faience’ I’ve seen at antique fairs.