"The Nevers pottery differs in many points from its Italian original. The outlines of the figures are traced in violet, the flesh in yellow. The red color is seldom used, but a copper-green is peculiar to this ware. Blue and yellow are the predominating colors, separated by a line of white. The sea is represented by undulating lines of blue, in the style of Orazio Fontana, and the Urbino school. The lips of the ewers are in the form of leaves, the handles in that of dragons."
[Illustration: FIG 80.--_Faïences of Nevers._]
Demmin separates the work done here into four styles or periods, as follows:
"4. The popular and patriotic, about 1789."
The examples shown (Fig. 80) are of the later periods, and partake of a general character which prevailed at other manufactories of the periods in France.
The colors during the Persian period were often effective, and the lapis-lazuli blue was rich.
A very great quantity of plates, vases, dishes, etc., was made, many of them rude and cheap, during the time of the French Revolution, which were decorated with revolutionary emblems, pictures of the destruction of the Bastile, with the liberty-cap, and with patriotic cries, such as "_Liberté, égalité, ou mort!_" and "_Vive le roi citoyen!_"
At the beginning of the eighteenth century there were twelve manufactories, or "_fabriques_," in full blast at Nevers. At the present time there is a very considerable production of faience at Nevers, much of which is only the imitations or reproductions of that made in the earlier centuries. Nothing of special interest, so far as I know, was shown at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia.
At the Bernal sale was "No. 1981: A pair of bottles of Nevers ware, light blue, spirally fluted with dark-blue flowers; twelve inches high. Eleven pounds.--_J. S. Forbes, Esq._"
BEAUVAIS.--How early pottery was made at Beauvais is not certainly known; one of the earliest notices is of a pot of Charles VI. in 1399, "Un godet de terre de Beauvais, garny d'argent;" and Rabelais mentions this work more than once, in this way, "Une salière de terre; et ung goubelet de Beauvoys," etc. Various pieces of this very quaint and interesting pottery are extant in the museums of Europe. The great plate we illustrate is in the Imperial Library at Paris, and bears the date of 1511 (Fig. 81). It is of fine paste, and is about seventeen inches in diameter. Its ornaments are in relief, and are the arms of France and of Brittany at that period. Many elaborate and decorative pieces were made here, and some of them were designed and were used for presents to distinguished personages who visited the city. Not only were these works of luxury made, but large quantities of household work were manufactured for the uses of France; and there was a very considerable export of it to England.