French Country Pottery: Timeless French Kitchen Classics

Today I'm celebrating one of my favorite things to collect: French Country Pottery. From humble crocks and storage jars to pitchers and bowls, these wonderfully useful old pieces bring so much character to a French country kitchen.

It's one of my favorite things to search for on any buying trip—this rustic, simple, sturdy French pottery that was made to be used.

The first time I spied an antique piece of French pottery at a brocante, the dealer told me it was called poterie en grès, or stoneware. It's also called terre cuite, or terracotta, depending on the type of pottery.

The piece I fell in love with was a large bowl glazed in golden yellow, with cracks, chips and plenty of wear. Mr. FrenchGardenHouse wasn't quite as completely smitten as I was, but being a good sport, he lugged it around for the rest of the morning for me.

And so my love affair began. {Not with the Mr.—we'd already been married a few decades.}

To this day, my perfectly imperfect French Country pottery bowl sits in our family room and serves up our apples or oranges.

History of French Country Pottery

French Country pottery has been made for centuries, and there are so many different forms that it would be impossible to talk about all of them. I'm just highlighting some of my {and your!} favorites.

Confit Pots 

Before refrigeration, clay pots were an important part of preserving food in France. The word confit, from the French word confire, means to preserve.

Confit pots were made from local clay and glazed inside and over the upper portion of the pot. The lower portion was often left unglazed because the pots, once filled with food, could be partially buried in the cool earth of a cellar.

French cooks used them for foods preserved in fat, including confit de canard, a specialty of Gascony. These large storage pots were practical household vessels, but today we love their generous shapes and beautifully aged surfaces - they're stunning decorative antiques with so much history! 

Confit pots come in lots of shapes and sizes - often in warm golden-yellow glazes. Green glazed pots, as well as smaller sized ones, are more rare to find and are especially desirable to collectors. Chips, imperfections and glaze drips are part of their charm, and are evidence of the handmade nature and history of these old pots.

Preserving Pots

There are also many different kinds of smaller antique preserving pots. These were glazed because they were kept in the cool limestone cellar, not buried partially in the ground.

Most are round and range from small crocks that held butter to larger pots with one or two handles. Their glazes tend to be very simple—cream, greige, brown or soft earthy tones.

These are possibly my very favorites because they are such wonderful multitaskers. Large ones can hold cooking utensils near the range; smaller ones can hold silverware, flowers or breadsticks. And, you don't have to use them in the kitchen at all- they get along perfectly well with other antiques in your home! 

Cruche & Gargoulette

A cruche is a pottery jug for liquids, with handles, made with a spout and sometimes a lid. These water jugs were often partially glazed if they were kept in the cellar for cooling, although many have gorgeous glazing all over.

The largest cruches were brought to the spring or well to collect the daily water for a household. Smaller ones could be carried into the fields on hot days.

Similar to a cruche is a gargoulette. Dealers sometimes use the two names interchangeably. A gargoulette generally has a longer, narrower spout, allowing several people to drink from it without touching it with their lips. Smaller gargoulettes were worn on a belt when working in the fields.

Let's just say they were the water bottles of their day.

Tians

Wide at the top and narrower at the base, these large French bowls or basins were traditionally used in dairies. Known as a tian or jatte, this type of pottery bowl was made in France in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Fresh milk was poured into the wide bowl so that the cream could rise to the surface, making it easier to skim.

Many are glazed inside in the beautiful golden yellow associated with Provence, or in green. The one that began my love affair with antique French Country pottery is black, and I've never actually seen another one quite like it. {She's a keeper!}

French Stoneware Storage Jars & Oil Jugs

There are so many beautiful French country vessels that were made simply to store liquids. Large stoneware storage jugs were used for oils, wine, alcohol and other household liquids throughout the 19th century.

Some were made for very specific purposes, while others could be used for whatever a household needed. This is one reason I love them: they were useful first and beautiful almost by accident.

You'll sometimes see these referred to as French stoneware olive oil jugs, oil jars or grès storage vessels. Their uneven handmade shapes, earthy glazes and traces of age are exactly what I love about French country pottery.

Decorating With Antique French Country Pottery

There are so many other kinds of antique French Country Pottery, I can't name them all! What I will say is that I've really never met one I didn't like, at least, if not L O V E.

Be creative with your collection of antique pottery from France. Other than using them in the kitchen, use them for flowers or branches from your garden. Serve olives, jam or those little French pickles, cornichons, on your next charcuterie board in some of the smaller bowls.

Use your large dairy bowls to hold fruit like we do here at FrenchGardenHouse, or as a centerpiece on your kitchen island filled with vegetables.

You can create a grouping on your French buffet, dining room table or shelves. A collection of antique French pottery brings warmth, texture and that wonderfully lived-in French country feeling to your home.

No matter how you use them, these antique French Country pottery treasures add a touch of history and French charm to your home.

SHOP FRENCH COUNTRY ANTIQUES & POTTERY >

A BIENTOT

xo Lidy