Collecting Vallauris Ceramics: Capron, Picault and the Anonymous Makers

Vallauris turned out millions of pieces between 1945 and 1975, from the souvenir jug to the Picasso editions. It is that sheer volume that makes it the ideal collection: you begin for nothing, you climb without end.

Where to begin

The anonymous jugs, dishes and trinket bowls of the 1950s — black, green or yellow glaze, free-flowing shapes, the word “Vallauris” incised on the back — turn up for €20 to €60 in every brocante in the South. Coming out of dozens of workshops, they form the base of a collection.

What is worth the detour

The middle ground is Roger Capron, who founded the Callis workshop with Robert Picault in 1946 before opening his own factory in 1952: plates and vases signed “Capron Vallauris” between €60 and €300, tiled coffee tables from several hundred to a few thousand euros. Picault, Jean Derval and Les Argonautes hold the same range. The grail is twofold: the Picasso editions at Madoura, marked “Edition Picasso” and “Madoura Plein Feu”, which run into the thousands of euros; and, beyond Vallauris but coveted by the same eye, Georges Jouve and the Ruellands. How to tell: the signature incised into the clay before firing, not painted over the top; the thick glaze, with its runs; the weight of the red clay.

Where to look

The Côte d'Azur first, from Nice to Fréjus, where the attics are still being emptied. The Emmaüs of the Var and the Alpes-Maritimes, the car-boot sales of the hinterland, then the online auctions for the signed pieces — always asking for a photograph of the back.

How to amass it

By colour family: the greens on one shelf, the blacks on another, never the whole lot mixed. Ceramic loves the raking light that reveals the glaze; a low ledge, a pale wall behind. No glass alongside.

Spotted a jug under a pile? Scan it on Beyit: the workshop, the period, the going rate — and what sets a Capron apart from an anonymous piece.