French Animal Pitchers

One of the most popular--and competitive--areas of majolica collecting is in French figural animal pitchers.

Every imaginable type of animal is represented on these pitchers from cats and bunnies to rats and lobsters. They were largely the work of the Sarreguemines and St. Clément factories but were also created by Frie-Onnaing, Fives Lille and other smaller potteries on the continent. They've proven so popular, in fact, that they are still being made today. (More on that later)

Catalog page from Fourmaintraux Masse in Desvres

Orchies majolica puppy in barrel pitcher

Orchies majolica bird pitcher

Desvres majolica pitcher

Poët-Laval majolica rat pitcher

Orchies majolica cat pitcher

Orchies majolica cat pitcher

St.Amand majolica frog pitcher

Fives Lille frog pitcher

Massier majolica pig jug

Orchies majolica donkey pitcher

Unattributed majolica lobster jug

Unattributed French majolica lion pitcher 

St. Clément majolica rooster pitcher

French majolica pitcher "Chat au noeud bleu"

Orchies majolica cat pitcher 

Majolica hare pitcher marked by realtor “Compagnie Franco 

Anglaise rue Turbigo, Paris.” Made for 1900 Paris Exposition Universelle.

Onnaing majolica rooster pitcher

Pöet-Laval majolica bear pitcher

Sarreguemines majolica monkey pitcher

Wasmuël monkey pitcher

Wasmuël majolica swan pitcher

Sarreguemines majolica dog pitcher

Sarreguemines majolica bunny pitcher

St. Clément majolica duck in egg bottle

St. Clément majolica poodle bottle

Orchies majolica rabbit pitcher 

Poët-Laval majolica goat jug

Onnaing majolica pig pitcher

Poët-Laval majolica squirrel pitcher

Sarreguemines majolica pig pitcher 

St Clément/Sarreguemines elephant pitcher

Desvres majolica fish jug

Sarreguemines majolica bunny pitcher

St. Clément  pitcher 

St. Clément monkey pitcher 

The pitchers bring very good prices at auction with the more unusual pitchers often bringing in excess of $500. The Sarreguemines animal head pitchers are probably the most sought after of them all, routinely bringing $800-$1200 at auction.

Some of the animal pitchers, with small alterations, can also be found as bottles.

St. Clément parrot pitcher 

St. Clément majolica parrot bottle

St. Clément majolica mallard pitcher

Garnier St. Clément majolica duck bottle

St. Clément majolica dog pitcher

Garnier St. Clément majolica dog bottle

Originally sold as liqueur bottles, there's no proof that I know of that connects the highly addictive absinthe liqueur with the figural bottles although they are often sold that way on the secondary market. The dog bottle “Gypp” and the duck bottle above it were definitely in use by the Garnier company to sell spirits up until 1930. Today, the Garnier company continues to sell other designs as liqueur containers but they no longer use the old molds.

Onnaing pig jug and Sarreguemines grotesque face pitcher in use 

by factory workers in nineteenth century France

About Reproductions

As I mentioned earlier, many of these pitchers are still in production by the St. Clément pottery. To add to the confusion, St. Clément purchased the molds to many of the Sarreguemines pitchers and is reproducing them as well. They are being sold as reproductions by the factory, but deceptive—or just ignorant—dealers will often try to pass them off as antiques. There are ways, however, to tell the new pitchers from the old, most often by the mark on the base. Here are some other hints showing the things to look for with the current reproductions.

• Very glassy, glossy, glaze.
• 

A very acid lime-green [glaze] used on the piece.
• The wrong model numbers:  Most old St. Clément animal pitchers will have a 3 digit model number or a 3 digit with a slash and another number (222/4).  Please note, I said "most", not all.  There are a few rare examples of 4 digit animal pitchers.  The new animal pitchers usually have a 4 digit number.  For instance, the new cat pitchers carry the number 7486 on the base, while the old one has the number 525. The new monkey pitchers bear the number 7490 while the old ones have 435.


• A Sarreguemines mold marked St. Clément: The two Sarreguemines molds used by St. Clément  that I see most often in on-line auctions are the "Boar" (or Sanglier) with the number 5285 and the "Pink Pig" (or Cochon Rose) with the number 3318.  These are both Sarreguemines model numbers, but the pitchers are marked with St. Clément marks.