Palissy Ware

Book excerpt: Bernard Palissy, the great Renaissance potter, created a style of ceramic art which has remained popular for nearly four hundred years and which saw a considerable revival throughout Europe in the later nineteenth-century. The coiled vipers, the slinking lizards, the scaly fish - these are the characteristic Palissy creatures set in high relief and painted as in nature. Palissy ware is found in the world's great museums. This volume, fully illustrated in colour, provides the first comprehensive account of the work of Palissy's nineteenth-century followers in France. It aims to be regarded as the standard guide and work of reference for collectors, curators and all those concerned with the high achievements of ceramic art.