Poterie d`Anduze, Les enfants de Boisset

Poterie d'Anduze, Les enfants de Boisset
Poterie d'Anduze, Les enfants
de Boisset
Manufacturer of horticultural pottery (Anduze vases)
Visit us
Workshop, Show-room ,
Musee exposition, Groups
Route Saint-Jean du Gard
30140 Anduze
OCCITANIE
Tel : +33 (0)4 66 61 80 86
E-mail : [email protected]
http://www.poterie-anduze.fr
Carrying on the work of Boisset, one of the two great pot
makers to set up shop in Anduze in around 1610, the Poterie
d’Anduze "Les Enfants de Boisset” can pride itself on some
three centuries of uninterrupted production.
Anduze pots, most notably used for planting orange trees at
the Chateau of Versailles, are large ornamental plant pots in
varnished clay, inspired by those used in Tuscany for orange
and lemon trees. They can be recognised by a number of
distinctive features: a short base, an upper rim in relief,
garlands, escutcheons bearing the name Boisset, and a
marbled finish.
The company endeavours to keep to traditional production
methods. It has its own quarry from which it extracts the
impure, but highly resistant, dense red Anduze clay, and uses
only natural colours (honey, green and brown).
Fashioned separately, the first step is for the body and base of
the pot to be assembled. Next the garlands and escutcheons,
which have been embossed beforehand, are set in place. The
pot is then engobed: a layer of white clay is applied to the pot,
which neutralises the red colour of the Anduze clay. Once it is
completely dry, the pot is marbled: copper oxide is applied by
hand to the escutcheon, which turns green with firing, and
manganese oxide is applied to the garlands, which turns
brown. Lastly, the pot is coated in a layer of lead sulphide,
commonly known as varnish. It is this varnish which, fusing
under the action of the heat, will go to give the pot its range of
shades and hues.