Bernard Palissy's Platter: A Pond You Can Hang on a Wall

What am I looking at?

You are looking at a large oval platter by Bernard Palissy, a French potter who lived from about 1510 to 1590 ^{1 2}. The Met dates this example to the last quarter of the 16th century ¹.

It is made of lead-glazed earthenware ¹. It measures 20 1/2 x 15 5/8 inches and weighs 5.5 pounds ¹. That is about 52.1 x 39.7 cm ¹.

Palissy is best known for this kind of work, called rusticware ². These are typically large, highly decorated oval platters with small animals in relief among plants ². Look for fish, snakes, lizards, shells, ferns, and leaves crowded together like a small pond or riverbank.

How was it made, and who was Palissy?

Palissy was a French Huguenot potter, hydraulics engineer, and craftsman ². He spent about sixteen years trying to imitate Chinese porcelain ². He never found that secret, but he created his own rustic pottery style instead ².

The animals were apparently often moulded from casts taken of dead specimens ². That is why they can look very lifelike. Analysis shows he used coloured lead glazes with metal oxides for green, blue, brown, black, and yellow, with a little tin for opacity in some glazes ².

Palissy lived through the French Wars of Religion ². As a Protestant, he was protected for a time by powerful patrons, then imprisoned and sentenced to death ². He died in the Bastille in 1589 ².

What should I look for when I see it?

First, look closely and slowly. The glaze gives wet-looking shine to the animals and leaves. Each creature sits slightly raised from the surface, so shadows help you see the shapes.

Second, notice that it was made for display, not for dinner. The uneven surface would be hard to eat from. It was meant to surprise guests and show skill with nature and fire.

It is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, in gallery 544 ¹. One thing most people do not know is that it is often hard to tell work from Palissy's own workshop from work by followers who copied his style ². Copies continued in France until about 1800 and were revived in the 19th century ². In the 19th century, his pottery inspired Victorian majolica made by Mintons Ltd, shown in 1851 as Palissy ware ².