Pitcher Demoiselle d'Avignon Aiguière Canakkale

Pitcher called "Demoiselle d'Avignon" or Damoiseau, in brown varnished earth enhanced with a floral decoration. Potting decor on the belly and neck and spillway. Called "Demoiselle", or "Damoiseau" for a male pitcher, in the south of France. Provenance Turkey, Canakkale. XIX. Height 39 cm. Object in very good state of conservation. To note, a slight crack of cooking on the bottom, without gravity. It also sounds perfectly. The damsel of Avignon is a terra cotta ewer much sought after in the south of France, which turns out to be a Turkish pottery made in Canakkale small port located on the Dardanelles strait. Two theories about their strong presence in Marseille, Beaucaire, Avignon ...: 1) These ewers were imported in France during the entire 19th century, filled with raki (grape brandy flavored with anise). raki kept empty these beautiful and unusual shaped jugs which gave them their name. 2) Marseille boats carrying French goods to Turkey returned loaded with Ottoman ceramics which were sold at regional fairs and markets. The local bourgeoisie was fond of decorating its interior with these exotic pieces. They have a round belly and a slender neck partly closed by a kind of animal head with a pouring spout that can be either in the shape of a big lip or in the shape of a tube (which sometimes makes them name Demoiselle). and Damoiseau). On the head as on the belly are applied decorations in the form of plants, scrolls, rosettes ... Many of these pottery have very colorful repaints of plants over the varnish.