page_title: Saintonge
section_title: Pottery
hierarchical_section_title: Saintonge / Pottery
caption_attribution_description: English: Saintonge_polychrome_dish_in_the_style_of_Bernard_Palissy_mid_1500s_found_in_London.
context_page_description: Saintonge, historically spelled Xaintonge and Xainctonge, is a former province of France located on the west central Atlantic coast. The capital city was Saintes. Other principal towns include Saint-Jean-d'Angély, Jonzac, Frontenay-Rohan-Rohan, Royan, Marennes, Pons, and Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire. The borders of the province slightly shifted through history, and some mapmakers, such as Nicolas Sanson, Johannes Blaeu, and Bernard Antoine Jaillot, show it extending into Cognac, traditionally part of Angoumois, and to the parishes of Braud-et-Saint-Louis and Étauliers, part of the Pays Gabay on the right bank of the Gironde River.
  Today, four fifths of the historical Saintonge province occupies the modern département of Charente-Maritime. Most of the other fifth is in Charente, and a small section extends north into Deux-Sèvres, all within the administrative region of Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
context_section_description: This area is famous for its medieval pottery, which was widely exported. Shards of it have been found in large quantities in medieval excavations throughout Ireland and other European countries. These shards are from vessels made and exported as a by-product of the Bordeaux wine trade (Deroeux and Dufournier, 1991). This ware has been found on Irish excavations from the later 12th century but it is most commonly uncovered in 13th-century contexts. They consist of an off-white micaceous fabric with moderate amounts of quartz and sparse inclusions of haematite. They are glazed on the external surface only, with a clear lead glaze. In Saintonge Green wares, the addition of copper filings, or copper oxide to the clear lead glaze, produced a mottled mid-green colouring. Many forms of Saintonge wares were produced, including Saintonge Polychrome, Saintonge Green, and in some cases unglazed wares. Slipped Saintonge is more consistent in colour and appearance than unslipped, having the benefit of an undercoating to regulate the process.
  The most common forms of vessel produced in this ware were wine jugs. These were characteristically tall, with slightly ovoid bodies, flat bases, parrot-beak spouts and strap handles.
  Saintonge was exported well through the 17th century. Acadians and French colonists in Quebec and Eastern Canada imported many Saintonge ceramics, including bowls, plates, mugs and other types. Many Saintonge ceramic fragments have been found in context with 17th-century colonists and are often used as evidence of pre-British occupation of these areas.
caption: Saintonge polychrome dish in the style of Bernard Palissy, mid-1500s, excavated in London. London Museum.
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