Nevers faience

The city of Nevers, Nièvre, now in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in central France, was a centre for manufacturing faience, or tin-glazed earthenware pottery, between around 1580 and the early 19th century. Production of Nevers faience then gradually died down to a single factory, before a revival in the 1880s. In 2017, there were still two potteries making it in the city, after a third had closed.^[2] However the quality and prestige of the wares has gradually declined, from a fashionable luxury product for the court, to a traditional regional speciality using styles derived from the past.

Nevers was one of the centres where the istoriato style of Italian maiolica was transplanted in the 16th century, and flourished for rather longer than in Italy itself. In the 17th century, Nevers became a pioneer in imitating Asian ceramic styles in Europe, within some decades, followed by all producers of fine wares. The second half of the 17th century was Nevers' finest period, with several styles being made at the same time, including a grandiose Italianate Court style.^[4]

By the time of the French Revolution, Nevers wares had ceased to be fashionable and expensive,^[5] but the relatively crudely painted faiences patriotiques wares commenting on political events have great interest and charm.^[6] A late 19th-century revival concentrated on high-quality revivalist wares recreating past glories.