Antique French Confit Pot, Dark Brown Glaze

Period: 19th century

Size: 8½ inches tall, 9½ inches at the widest, 5½ inch opening

A dark brown glazed earthenware confit pot with a single strap handle and a flared, rolled rim. The glaze has gone iridescent in places, that faint shifting sheen you find on very old lead-glazed pots where the surface has slowly broken down. Glaze losses across the body expose the pale clay underneath, and there is chipping along the rim. The lower body and base are unglazed, as they were made. Wear consistent with age and use, sold as found.

Historical Context

Confit pots take their name from the French confire, to preserve. They held cooked duck or goose packed under rendered fat, which is how meat was kept before refrigeration. The glaze sealed the interior so the fat could not soak into the porous earthenware, and the bare lower body stayed cool where the pot was set into the earth or against a stone floor.

Styling Ideas

The surface is the reason to want this one, all of that iridescence and loss is the record of a pot that stayed in use. Set it where light can move across it, on a hearth or an open shelf, rather than filling it.