A. Caborde Poterie de Ciboure French Basque Grand Feu Pitcher — Pelota & Farmhouse Scenes

Hand-thrown and hand-painted in white clay with black and red earth colorants, this small vintage pitcher from Poterie de Ciboure — the French Basque pottery founded in 1919 in Ciboure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques — carries two distinct painted scenes that wrap the gourd-form body. The primary face shows a pelota player in white and red sash, mid-stride, set against loose terracotta and grey washes; the reverse presents a tall bare tree before a traditional Basque half-timbered etxe farmhouse. A high-arched, black-glazed handle anchors the form, the pinched spout echoes the handle's dark glaze along its rim, and a crisp chevron border in dark red and cream bands the base. Spotted polychrome decoration — rust, teal, and umber — dapples the neck. The original gilt foil label, GRES BASQUE d'origine / GRAND FEU / fait à la main, remains intact on the neck.

The base carries the hand-written decorator signature A. Caborde over the impressed factory mark R.F. / CIBOURE. The Grand Feu designation on the label indicates high-fire stoneware firing, consistent with the pottery's known production methods. Poterie de Ciboure operated from 1919 through 1995, with G. Fischer documented as director from 1977 to 1995. The painterly hand here — confident black-outlined figures, atmospheric washed grounds — is consistent with the pottery's decorative output.

Ciboure (Basque: Ziburu) sits directly across the Nivelle River from Saint-Jean-de-Luz on the French Basque coast, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques department. The town's pottery tradition drew on local white clay bodies and iron-rich red and black colorants, producing high-fired earthenwares decorated with the visual culture of Basque daily life — the fast-court game of pelota, the whitewashed half-timbered farmhouses called etxeak, the beret, the red sash. Poterie de Ciboure was founded in 1919 and operated continuously through 1995, with G. Fischer serving as documented director during the final phase, 1977–1995. The pottery was the principal producer of this regional ceramic genre and supplied tourist and export markets throughout the mid-twentieth century. Its Grand Feu wares — fired at high temperature for durability and depth of color — bore the R.F. / CIBOURE impressed factory mark and, on individually decorated pieces, the hand-signed name of the decorator responsible for the surface painting. The pelota motif was among the pottery's most characteristic subjects, capturing a sport as central to Basque identity as the language itself.

CONDITION

Very Good. No remarkable damage. Original gilt foil label intact and well-adhered. Decorator signature and factory impressed mark both crisp and legible. Glaze and hand-painted decoration present throughout with no noted losses or chips.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Height: 5 1/2"
• Diameter: 3"
• Decorator: A. Caborde (hand-signed, base)
• Maker's Mark: R.F. / CIBOURE (impressed, base)
• Label: GRES BASQUE d'origine / GRAND FEU / fait à la main (gilt foil, neck)
• Body: White clay, high-fire (Grand Feu), hand-painted black and red earth colorants
• Pottery: Poterie de Ciboure, Ciboure, Pyrénées-Atlantiques, France; founded 1919, active through 1995
• Director, final period: G. Fischer, 1977–1995
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included