The Town, The People and The Pottery
Volume 20 Number 12
May 2019
May 2019
The western-most part of the continent of Europe, this is a 1683 map of Brittany. Quimper is located to the left of center, above a small island and noted with its name at that time...Quimper-Corentin.
Quimper...pronounced "kem-pair"...is a town in northwestern France. It is also a people and a pottery.
To the people of Quimper, the town name is Kemper, which in their language describes a confluence of rivers. ("Quimper" is a somewhat nonsensical rendition as not all the Breton dialects have a "Q" and a true French pronunciation would be different from the actual "kem-pair"). At any rate, "confluence of rivers" is an apt description, as the town is situated at the juncture of two rivers, the Odet and the Steir. Two other rivers, the Jet and the Frout, are close-by, but travel underground through the town limits. Historically, this close proximity to rivers meant an ideal place to establish a pottery factory and thus, Quimper has been a pottery town for centuries. Its "recent" history of continuous pottery production begins in 1708. (Previous accounts put the date as 1690, but history is not written in stone and recent findings have provided further information).
By the last decade of the nineteenth century, three pottery factories were operating in the town of Quimper. One was the Porquier factory, another was known as the Grande Maison or De la Hubaudière factory, and the third, owned by Jules Henriot, was called the Faïencerie d’Art Breton. Tin-glazed earthenware, known in France as faïence, was a popular product, especially pieces that were hand-painted with scenes depicting life in the region of Brittany.
The making of faïence is an art. Especially in the early days, prior to the introduction of more modern methods, when both the technical and artistic skills necessary to make a piece of faïence were quite daunting. Extremely difficult to master its making, I've been known to liken faïence to being the "puff pastry" of pottery production.
The use of an opaque tin glaze is one factor that distinguishes faïence from other types of pottery...pieces made by this process were known as faïence in France, Spain, Germany, and Austria; in the Netherlands, they were called Delft; in England, the term was Delftware; and in Renaissance Italy, such pieces were called maiolica...not to be confused with majolica, that's actually a trade name of the Minton pottery in England for a Victorian-era product made using substantially different glazes and production methods.
The tradition of Quimper faïence production continues today. But much like the comparison of a Model T with a current Ford Motor Company product, today’s Quimper is very different from vintage Quimper. In many fields of collecting there is a line of demarcation; for Quimper pottery that line is World War II. Modern techniques and machinery introduced in the days after World War II resulted in the creation of a different product. Vintage Quimper refers to pieces made prior to that time period; later production falls into the collectible genre.
Here at www.oldquimper.com, we specialize in vintage Quimper and invite you to come along as we further explore old Quimper...The Town, The People, and The Pottery. If you've just joined us, since 1999 we've been using these pages to extol upon the beauty and intrigue of vintage Quimper pottery and, at the same time, do some "traveling"...and, indeed, over the years, we have visited some of the most picturesque towns of Brittany...each one delightfully different.
Each month, this depiction of King Gradlon by Quimper-born artist Pierre Toulhoat (1923-2014) will herald in a new article about Quimper...The Town, The People and The Pottery.
For the past several issues of www.oldquimper.com, we've been presenting a series of articles designed to provide a primer on the history of Quimper...a sort of abridged and updated version of the story behind The Town, The People and The Pottery. We hope to educate collectors...correcting some long-standing and stubborn misinformation...so that fans of Quimper pottery will become more comfortable with the whys and wherefores of Quimper and what makes it so special. It's also a good lesson in remembering that history is not written in stone and that our knowledge of it can indeed change.
Reminder: in many instances, clicking on the photos will lead to a larger image and please take note that the names and dates given may be entirely different from what you hear or read from various sources. This is an updated and corrected history of Quimper pottery, designed to provide a clear illustration of how styles and techniques from Provence, Nevers and Rouen came together to create the enduring fascination that is Quimper pottery!
For the past several issues of www.oldquimper.com, we've been presenting a series of articles designed to provide a primer on the history of Quimper...a sort of abridged and updated version of the story behind The Town, The People and The Pottery. We hope to educate collectors...correcting some long-standing and stubborn misinformation...so that fans of Quimper pottery will become more comfortable with the whys and wherefores of Quimper and what makes it so special. It's also a good lesson in remembering that history is not written in stone and that our knowledge of it can indeed change.
Reminder: in many instances, clicking on the photos will lead to a larger image and please take note that the names and dates given may be entirely different from what you hear or read from various sources. This is an updated and corrected history of Quimper pottery, designed to provide a clear illustration of how styles and techniques from Provence, Nevers and Rouen came together to create the enduring fascination that is Quimper pottery!
In case you just joined our on-going discussion of the history of Quimper pottery…we've made our way from the very beginning of "modern-day" Quimper pottery...Pierre Bousquet's founding of a factory in 1708...following his enterprise through the French Revolution, the beginnings of local competition in the marketplace and the inevitable affects of death and taxes. We focused first on the factory that started it all...what came to be popularly known as HB Quimper or La Grande Maison and will pick up later on the competitors...Porquier, Henriot, Fouillen, Kéraluc, etc.
Last month's issue ended with the closure of the HB-Grande Maison factory in 1983. At that time it was known as Les Faïenceries de Quimper and was essentially a combination of the original Bousquet/Caussy/HB-Grande Maison pottery and that of a former arch rival...Henriot. The two co-existed under the helm of Jean-Yves Verlingue from 1968 to 1983 until several factors, including foreign competition and the high cost of labor, brought the business to an end.
Spoiler alert...it begins anew the following year...but for now, let's stop at 1983 and set HB-La Grande Maison aside in order to begin a look at their first serious threat...the firm started in 1778 by François Eloury.
Last month's issue ended with the closure of the HB-Grande Maison factory in 1983. At that time it was known as Les Faïenceries de Quimper and was essentially a combination of the original Bousquet/Caussy/HB-Grande Maison pottery and that of a former arch rival...Henriot. The two co-existed under the helm of Jean-Yves Verlingue from 1968 to 1983 until several factors, including foreign competition and the high cost of labor, brought the business to an end.
Spoiler alert...it begins anew the following year...but for now, let's stop at 1983 and set HB-La Grande Maison aside in order to begin a look at their first serious threat...the firm started in 1778 by François Eloury.
François Eloury was born in 1732, two years after his older brother André. By the 1750s, both were working as turners for Pierre-Clément Caussy at Quimper's original modern-day pottery in the Locmaria neighborhood. The piece shown below dates from around 1755 and was produced at the Grande Maison factory to commemorate the marriage of André Eloury.
The Eloury family surname appears differently throughout official municipal archives...as Héloury up to about 1740 and as Eloury around the end of the 18th Century. The dedication on this piece reflects either another spelling or a misspelling.
In 1778, François leaves the Grande Maison...at this time, Caussy is still actively heading the firm and is grooming his son-in-law, Antoine de la Hubaudière, to succeed him. François Eloury's wife had inherited property in Locmaria and despite legal protests filed by Caussy, he quits and successfully opens a small pottery at that location. (His elder brother André had attempted to open his own pottery in a neighboring village back in 1760, but died shortly thereafter).
Although the pottery run by François Eloury was not a large scale operation, it was continued by his son after François died...just one year later. In addition to pipes for smoking tobacco, production consisted of utilitarian objects in grès...the French term for stoneware.
Proper storage of food and water was an important aspect of existence in the last quarter of the 18th century and is reflected in the types of pieces that were produced by the Eloury pottery in its earliest years.
Permission to produce faïence was eventually granted in 1788, but the firm did not have a mill for producing colored glazes and a painter is not listed as being an employee there until around 1802, so it can be assumed that any faïence production was in the beginning years limited...most likely small figures of saints covered in an all-white glaze.
Pieces were often described in inventories prepared during these early days as being "brown pottery". Perhaps in addition to the stoneware jugs, the Eloury pottery produced plates in decorated earthenware:
Pieces were often described in inventories prepared during these early days as being "brown pottery". Perhaps in addition to the stoneware jugs, the Eloury pottery produced plates in decorated earthenware:
Plates and bowls decorated with different colored "slips"...slips are clays with liquid added so that they could be applied in a decorative design with a brush or finger.
The écuelle or small bowl with handles shown below sports a relatively elaborate decoration and is dedicated to its presumed owner-to-be: Rosalie
As a result of deaths, inheritances and marriages, the original Eloury pottery sprouted offshoots and experienced some name changes. In the first half of the 19th century, there was an Eloury Frères company as well as an Eloury-Porquier pottery...Porquier being the name of a nephew who had wed into the family in 1814.
Here are some pieces that are attributed to Eloury-Porquier production by the Musée Départemental Breton:
The history comes together further in 1845 when one of the Guillaumes...Guillaume Porquier...purchases the pottery run by his uncle, another Guillaume...Guillaume Eloury. The Porquier Guillaume then associates with his brother, Clét-Adolphe, to form Porquier Frères...a firm that operates under this name for some 15 years. The factory prospers...to the point that when Guillaume Porquier dies, Clét-Adolphe Porquier and his wife Augustine...full name: Marie-Augustine Caroff Porquier...expand the business and purchase property and production facilities that were formerly owned by the HB factory.
Clèt Adolphe Porquier died in 1869 and the pottery was now to be directed by his widow.
That's it for this issue...our exploration of Brittany...its towns, its people and its pottery...will continue in our next webisode. We publish a new issue on or about the first of each month. If you would like an email reminder when a new issue comes out, please contact us at oldquimper@yahoo.com.