Buff earthenware with moulded decoration and coloured glazes. Made by Georges Pull. French, Paris, about 1860-70.

Oval dish, with raised foot. In the middle an oval depression with mottled colours. Round the border eight smaller depressions alternately in the form of a green cartouche and a blue star; between them, horns of plenty with fruit in natural colours. Within the rim a band of leaf motives. The reverse is mottled with green, blue and brown colours.

Bequeathed by George Salting, Esq.

Salting Bequest.
Formerly in the Spitzer Collection.

(24 April 2006) Note in Register: M. Beltrand de Russé. visiting from the Chateau at Pré d'Auges, identified the incised signature of PULL on the base. This object can, therefore, be identified as 19th century.

On Georges Pull:
THE SCHOOL OF PARIS
The reputation of Avisseau and the School of Tours encouraged other ceramists to emulate their success. The first of these, Victor Barbizet (c.1805-c.1870), a merchant in Dijon, established a pottery workshop with his brother-in-law, Claude Ponet, to produce household ceramics. Around 1850, together with Barbizet's son, Achille, they moved to Paris and began to mass-produce rustic ware. Over a period of about thirty years, the firm became very successful employing approximately sixty workers at its peak. Victor Barbizet is generally credited with founding the School of Paris.
The most famous potter from the School of Paris, Georges Pull (1810-1889), a former soldier and naturalist, was born in Wissembourg, Alsace. He moved to Paris and operated his first kiln in 1856 at the age of forty-six on the rue de Vaugirard which later became the Parisian center for ceramic production. The talented and gifted Pull studied assiduously and apprenticed four years perfecting his skills. From 1860 to 1867, he produced magnificent work with brilliant enamels and was called by one journalist, "the King of Pottery."
Inspired by Georges Pull, Thomas-Victor Sergent (fl.c.1870-1880), a Parisian ceramist, opened his own shop and produced works in the Avisseau tradition. It is likely that Sergent was familiar with the Vaugirard workshops as his enamels were nearly as brilliant as Pull's. He is best known for his platters and plates featuring nearly life-size crustaceans in a varied color palette.
François Maurice (fl.c.1875-1885), a lesser known artist preferred more serene compositions using molded fish and crayfish on a cobalt blue background. His works employ modest hand-finishing imparting minimal detail t

C.2322-1910