Antique faience: recognising the great factories

Faience is one of the most accessible fields of antique ceramics: produced in series from the 17th century onwards, it remains affordable, decorative and legible — each factory has its palette, its shapes and its marks.

Delft first. Delft blue — cobalt on a white ground, landscapes, genre scenes, bouquets — is imitated everywhere, but 18th-century Dutch production bears painted marks under the glaze: initials, pots, hatchets. The body is yellowish on the reverse, the glaze slightly uneven.

Rouen next, the founding French factory. Rayonnant decoration, blue lambrequins around the rims of plates, then a polychrome palette in the mid-18th century. The great Rouen pieces — dishes, tureens — count among the finest faience in Europe.

Moustiers, the factory of refinement: blue or green camaïeu, grotesques after Bérain, then polychrome decoration. Limited production, extreme finesse, prices to match.

Desvres and the northern factories finally, later and more popular: polychrome bouquets, then abundant 19th-century production, always cheerful and affordable — the best entry market for collectors.

To read a piece: turn it over first. The reverse says almost everything — painted mark, body colour, firing flaws — before the decoration even matters. An old, worn chip takes little away; a recent restoration must be declared.

At Maison Boitel, antique ceramics are described piece by piece by the dealers who hold them, with their marks photographed — and the sale happens directly with them, with 0% commission.