Palissy, Bernard [key], c.1510–c.1589, French potter. For 16 years he worked in vain to imitate white-glazed pottery (probably Chinese), even burning his furniture to fire his kilns. He succeeded in producing a widely imitated pottery, Palissy ware, admired for smooth glazes in richly colored enamels. He was appointed (c.1562) royal potter to Catherine de' Medici and created platters, ewers, and other ornamented pottery for the French court. He is noted for pieces reproducing scriptural and mythological subjects in low relief and for his rustic pieces decorated with sharply modeled forms copied from nature—notably reptiles, insects, and plants. Imitations of this type of Palissy's ware became popular in the later 19th cent. He gave (c.1575–1584) public lectures on natural history. A writer of outstanding ability on a diversity of topics, including religion, chemistry, mineralogy, philosophy, and agriculture, he published two collections of discourses—Recepte véritable (1563) and Discours admirables (1580). Many of his views on nature have been confirmed by scientists. In 1588 he was sent, as a Huguenot, to the Bastille, where he died.
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