Palissy Platter

Palissy Platter
Originally uploaded by megan_n_smith_99

i have been doing some research on Palissy Ware. This is a form of ceramic done in a style popularized in the 17th century, though it had a revivial in the 19th century, and many intact examples are from that period.

The originator of the style was Bernard Palissy, who was born in the 1500s. Palissy Ware is used to descrive other works in this style though, some by other known artists and some anonymously done.


To create these work very realistic life sized molds were made of animals - mostly sea creatures but also reptiles and frogs and things- and they were glazed to be very life-like. they are kind of creepy and kind of cool. very high relief so i can't imagine they would have been used as actual serving ware, but more as decoration. i imagine a lot of people have never heard of this type of ceramic so I thought I would share.

image from www.wga.hu/index.html