Susan,
I found a small blue transfer printed French ointment jar in a trash pit
likely associated with a 19th-century hotel. I have copied the revelant
sections of my report and references below:
Catalog entry: Lid missing; black transfer-printed backmark – LEBEUF/
MILLIET & CIE/ MEDAILLES D'OR/ 1834 39 ET 44/ PORC.../ OPAQUE/ CREIL &
MONTEREAU (see Cushion 1996:28, 34); printed on the exterior is: JOURDAN/NO
15/ RUE DE LA PAIX/ A/ PARIS
Of particular note is the “creamware/pearlware” blue transfer printed,
ointment jar made for a French store—Jourdan—located on the Rue de la Paix
in Paris (Figure 53). The backmark on this piece suggests that this
refined earthenware was made in France between 1841 and 1895 by the firm
LeBœuf, Milliet and Company, which apparently had factories in the French
pottery districts at Creil (Oise) and Montereau (Seine-et-Marne) (see
Cushion 1996:28, 34). The English firm Clark, Shaw and Company, appears to
have been the impetus behind the creation of a “queens ware” faatory or
factories in France during the late eighteenth century. Chaffers
(1946:184) notes that one such factory was established at Creil (Oise) and
produced ceramics that were a “sort of demi-porcelain and opaque
cream-coloured ware, like that of Wedgwood.” Litchfield (1953:84) states
that these wares were “generally cream-ware” and that the factory or
factories at Creil employed workers from England. He also notes that these
factories were the first in France to use transfer printing on earthenwares
(Litchfield 1953:84). The mark on the piece recovered from Feature 2
indicates that this pottery won the “gold medal” for opaque porcelain in
1834, 1839 and 1844. This last date also provides a TPQ for this
particular artifact. It has been generally assumed that the late
eighteenth-century/early nineteenth-century refined earthenwares recovered
from archaeological sites in ethnically French areas of the United States
were made in England (e.g., Dawdy 2000:116-117). Cushion (1996:24),
however, documents that the “cream-coloured and white earthenware of
Staffordshire quickly found imitators in France, and tablewares in
lead-glazed faïence fine (as it is called in France) were made at
Lunéville, Bellvue, Saint-Clément, Niderville, Paris, Orléans and many
other factories.” That at least some of these French refined earthenwares
were still making their way to North America as late as 1844 is evidenced
by the ointment jar recovered from Feature 2.
References
Cushion, J. P.
1996 Handbook of pottery and Porcelain Marks. Faber and Faber, London.
Chaffers, W.
1946 Marks and Monograms on European and Oriental Pottery and Porcelain,
edited by F. Litchfield. William Reeves Bookseller Ltd., London.
Litchfield, F.
1953 Pottery and Porcelain: A Guide to Collectors. Sixth edition, revised
by Frank Tilley. Adam and Charles Black, London.
Hope this helps.
Rob
*****************************************
Rob Mann, Ph.D.
Southeast Regional Archaeologist
Museum of Natural Science
119 Foster Hall
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803
[log in to unmask]
225.578.6739
|
