born 1509, St. Avit, France
died 1590, Paris
French potter and writer.
Known for his decorated rustic ware, a type of earthenware covered with coloured lead glazes, he was appointed "inventor of rustic pottery to the king and the queen mother" in 1565. His public lectures on natural history, published in 1580, revealed him to be a writer and scientist and a pioneer of the scientific method. A Huguenot, he was imprisoned in 1588 in the Bastille, where he died.