Plate 1725 - 1735

This faience plate was made by Jean-Baptiste Guillibaud in Marseilles, France. The making of faience involves a number of distinct stages, starting with the potter’s wheel and then moving on to the painter’s studio. A soft, porous earthenware clay body is shaped and fired, then coated with a tin-based glaze, creating a bright white surface. It is on this canvas that the painter executes the design with colorful metal-oxide pigments. After a second firing, the colors are fixed, and the plate is ready for use. The skilled labor to make an object like this was divided, one worker throwing the clay and another painting the intricate floral patterns. The overall composition, a central bouquet surrounded by a geometric border, reflects a desire to elevate the status of ceramics, moving it away from its utilitarian origins towards the realm of fine art. But keep in mind, the entire enterprise was driven by consumer demand – part of a larger commercial ecosystem of production and consumption that gives this humble plate its enduring significance.