French Country · Encyclopedia · Pottery and Earthenware
Glazed jam jars
Savoyard jam pots in glazed earthenware, decorated with fruit in relief and covered with deep-colored glazes, almost always green, more rarely yellow. Early-twentieth-century examples are now hard to find.
French: pots à confiture · Savoie · glazed earthenware
At a glance
- Region: Savoie
- Material: glazed earthenware
- Colors: mostly green, rarely yellow
- Decoration: fruit in relief
What they are
These pots held jams and preserves made from orchard fruit. Their glazes are rich and deep, and their sides are decorated with fruit modeled in relief, a cheerful signal of what they contained.
Collectors' pieces
The book notes that those dating from the very beginning of the twentieth century are appreciated by collectors and have become difficult to find. Green is by far the most common color; yellow examples are rarer.
Collecting and using them
Check for chips on the relief decoration and rim, and for hairline cracks. Old lead glazes should not be used for food storage.
A row of green jam pots makes a vivid display on an open kitchen shelf or holds utensils on a counter.
Source: Les Trésors de France: vieux métiers et objets d'autrefois (Éditions Rustica, Détours en France collection, 1995), pp. 130–135, with general background on the object. The book was published in 1995, so workshops, people and figures are described as they were then. Regional names and dates are given as the book records them; a style or a region of origin does not by itself date an individual piece.