QUIMPER FAIENCE

tin-enamelled earthenware produced by a factory at Loc Maria, a suburb of Quimper in Brittany, Fr. The factory was founded in 1690 by Jean-Baptiste Bosquet, a potter from Marseille who had settled there. Both Pierre Caussy, who took over in 1743, and de la Hubeaudire, who bought it in 1809, expanded production. Quimper ware never developed a truly distinct style of its own, however, but imitated in turn the pottery of Marseille, Nevers, and especially Rouen. In design and craftsmanship, Quimper ware was usually inferior to its models. The factory still exists.