Definition:Faience

Faience is tin-glazed earthenware — a ceramic body coated with an opaque white glaze made possible by tin oxide — produced primarily in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Scandinavia. The tin oxide creates a bright white ground that accepts bold painted decoration in cobalt, manganese, copper green, and iron red. The same type of ware is called ‘delftware’ in the Dutch and English tradition and ‘maiolica’ in the Italian. Faience dog figurines appear most often in the French Rouen and Strasbourg traditions and in German production from the Rhine Valley potteries. These pieces tend toward bold, confident painted decoration on the characteristic white ground, with a visual directness quite different from the more refined English porcelain tradition. Genuine 18th-century faience pieces qualify as antique.