There is some mystery… some magic connected with the pottery of Anduze. At Eye of the Day everyone seems to be drawn to the section of the store holding our great cache of these pots. The variety of colors, finishes and sizes feeds the eye and the imagination. The little village of Anduze in the south of France is known as “The Gateway to Cevennes”, but its infinitely more interesting feature is that it is the birthplace and ancestral home of the Anduze Vase. Apparently, sometime during the 16th century a potter from Anduze spotted some Italian Medici vases at a faire in Beauclaire and was inspired by the beautiful decoration of swags, fruit and flowers and bee-lined back home to the Gateway to the Cevennes and started tinkering. The vases provided a way in which orange trees could be grown in this area -outdoors in the warm months, then moved indoors in cool weather. But, I suppose people became lazy and many of the pots were left permanently outside. THIS, my friends turned out to be great. The glazes would flake and change color and lo: the unsurpassed antiqued patina that we see on old and new Anduze vases today was created by mother nature. The shape of the vase is sturdy: short round pedestal, or foot, and thick-rimmed opening, making it difficult to blow over in the Mistrals of southern France.
The French Anduze Vase of today is handmade by one of just a few factories in this small Provencal village. The swags and “macarons” (badges) are hand applied along with colors and antiquing finishes and, as you have probably already figured out, WE have visited and chosen our vases for Eye of the Day. Let me relay to you some colors: vert, bleu, jaune, miele, jaspe, ivoire. There’s a color mix, known in France as Couleurs du Soliel which includes yellow, green, warm brown … you get it. And funny, there’s one called celadon, but it’s not, it’s faded Tiffany blue, or early morning sky blue, or cloud’s edge blue. See what I mean about the mystery (or mystere)?
And, oh, the Vin de Pays!
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