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Marseille earthenware spice box (Saint-Jean du Désert), signed AC for the Antoine Clérissy* factory, with rich polychrome decoration of figures moving heavy objects (rocks, cannon barrels, etc.), as well as boats sailing in landscapes of the South of France (Provence), from the 18th century.
This box is in good overall condition. Signed underneath.
Please note: some chips on the edge of the lid, traces of restoration on the lid, micro-chips on the foot, enamel defects and wear from time, take a good look at the photos (see red arrows).
Marseille earthenware was first produced from 1677 in the Saint-Jean du Désert district, to the east of the city. At the beginning of the 18th century, more and more new earthenware factories were established in the districts of Porte d'Aix, to the north of the city, and Porte de Rome and Porte de Paradis to the south. The earthenware factories of Saint-Jean-du-Désert: it is the banker Joseph Fabre (1634-1717) who is credited with having created the first earthenware factory in the territory of Marseille in 1674. These lands being rich in clay, Joseph Fabre decided to build a factory there and, to ensure its operation, brought in in 1677 from Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, a master earthenware maker Joseph Clérissy (1643-1685), eldest son of Antoine Clérissy (1599-1679). After the death of Joseph Clérissy in 1685, his widow Anne Roux married the painter François Viry (1659-1697), a very talented artist, who ran the workshop and developed an exceptional production by broadening the sources of inspiration. Three apprentices worked with him: Antoine Clérissy (1672-1750), his wife's son, then Étienne Arnaud and finally Joseph II Clérissy (1675-1758), Antoine Clérissy's brother. Upon François Viry's death in 1697, Antoine Clérissy took over the management of the factory: a plate in the Adrien Dubouché Museum in Limoges bears Antoine Clérissy, 1697, Saint-Jean-du-Désert on its reverse, which attests that this twenty-five-year-old young man was indeed the head of the company. His production is easier to authenticate, as he affixed a small AC monogram to the pieces until the middle of the 18th century.
