Charles Avisseau

Avisseau, Charles - (Ceramics, Pottery, Earthenware, France) Charles Avisseau (1796- 1861) was the son of a stone-cutter and at a young age was apprenticed in a faience factory at Saint Pierre-des-Corps. In 1825 he entered the ceramic factory of Baron de Bezeval at Beaumont-les-Autels where he saw a dish made by the Renaissance potter Bernard Palissy, which was to inspire his work. In 1843 Avisseau established an independent factory on the Rue Saint-Maurice in Tours, where individual ceramics inspired by and in the style of Palissy's 'rustic' wares were produced. Although critics complained that his works merely imitated the Renaissance master, he never directly copied Palissy's pieces. During the 1840s and 1850s he received a number of major commissions, including a large dish for Frederick William IV, King of Prussia, by the Princesse de Talleyrand and a perfume burner for the Turkish Ambassador Prince Kallimaki. Avisseau exhibited his ceramics in Paris at the 1849 Exposition de l'Industrie, where he was listed as a 'fabricant de poterie genre Palissy', and again at the Exposition Universelle of 1855, where he received a second-class medal for the technical distinction of his work.

Charles Avisseau Sitting by a Piece of His Pottery