Palissy ware

Palissy's distinctive style of polychrome lead-glazed earthenware [1] in a sombre earth-toned palette, using naturalistic scenes of plants and animals cast from life,[2] was much imitated by other potters both in his own lifetime and especially in the 19th century.

In this revival, pottery in Palissy's style was produced by Charles-Jean Avisseau of Tours, who rediscovered Palissy's techniques in 1843, his relatives the Landais family of Tours, Georges Pull of Paris, Maurice, and Barbizet.

[4] it is now difficult to identify which 16th-century works in the rustique manner are actually from Palissy's own workshop except by comparison with either fragments excavated in 1878 from remains of the grotto that he certainly decorated at the Tuileries Palace for Catherine de' Medici, who called him to Paris in 1566[5] or from excavations at the site of his Paris workshop in the Palais du Louvre.

This distinctive style of pottery is characterized by three-dimensional modeled, often aquatic, animals such as snakes, fish, lizards, frogs, and snails arranged onto large platters (wall plates, wall platters, chargers).

A significant collection of Palissy ware is housed in the New Orleans Museum of Art, donated by the actress and writer Brooke Hayward.