French Country · Encyclopedia · Pottery and Earthenware
Fish soup pot
An oval green pot with slightly flattened rims, traditionally used in Provence to serve fish soup, typical of the potters of Vallauris, who also made many saucepans and skillets before the war and in the 1950s.
French: « toupin » · Vallauris, Provence
At a glance
- Center: Vallauris, Provence
- Glaze: green
- Use: serving fish soup
- Period of strong production: before the war and in the 1950s
What it is
The toupin is an oval cooking and serving pot with gently flattened rims. In Provence it was traditionally used to bring fish soup to the table.
Vallauris
Vallauris, near Antibes, was an important pottery town producing culinary earthenware: saucepans, skillets and pots for slow cooking. The book notes that production was large before the war and in the 1950s, when the town also became famous for art pottery.
Collecting and using it
Check for crazing and chips. Old culinary glazes may contain lead; use such pieces for display or serving dry foods.
A green toupin is a fine piece to show on an open shelf in a Provençal kitchen.
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.