fa·ience

also fa·ïence (fī-äns′, -äNs′, fā-)

1. Earthenware decorated with colorful opaque glazes.

2. A moderate to strong greenish blue.

[French faïence, after Faïence, Faenza, Italy.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

faïence

(faɪˈɑːns; feɪ-)

(Ceramics)

a. tin-glazed earthenware, usually that of French, German, Italian, or Scandinavian origin

b. (as modifier): a faïence cup.

[C18: from French, strictly: pottery from Faenza]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fa•ience

or fa•ïence

(faɪˈɑns, -ˈɑ̃s, feɪ-)

n.

glazed earthenware or pottery, esp. a fine variety with highly colored designs.

[1705–15; < French, orig. pottery of Faenza, city in N Italy]

faience

Fine pottery with a colorful glaze, named after Faenza, Italy, one of its sources.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

faience - glazed earthenware decorated with opaque colors

earthenware - ceramic ware made of porous clay fired at low heat

Translations

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

The rest of the furniture of this privileged apartment consisted of old cabinets, filled with Chinese porcelain and Japanese vases, Lucca della Robbia faience, and Palissy platters; of old arm-chairs, in which perhaps had sat Henry IV.

View in context

Splendid enamels gleamed here and there on carved chests; a boar's head in faience crowned a magnificent dresser, whose two shelves announced that the mistress of the house was the wife or widow of a knight banneret.

View in context

New Yorker Sidney Knafel has been collecting French faience since the 1960s.

FIT FOR THE FRICK

This book compiles the sketches and drawings of artist Philip Ashforth Coppola, who has spent 40 years of drawing the ornamental design and architecture of the New York City subway system: tiling, mosaics, relief sculptures, faience (glazed ceramic), plaques, metalwork, light fixtures, and stations.

One-Track Mind: Drawing the New York Subway

L'art de la decoration est egalement mis a l'honneur par des couvertures de livres anciens, des ornements de portes photographies en Egypte et au Maroc et des revetements en faience de plusieurs tombeaux en Turquie.

Splendeurs de l'art islamique

The Flint Faience Tile Company had its origins in a meeting between Champion and Carl Bergmans, a Belgian ceramist working for the American Encaustic Tile Company in Zanesville, Ohio.

The art and science of Flint Faience Tile

By contrast, she can follow the technical improvements in faience, which are gradually exploited to produce new forms and object classes.

Innovation und tradition: Zur Herstellung und Verwendung von Prestigegutern im pharaonischen Agypten

Freres musulmans et armee se regardent ces jours-ci en chiens de faience. Le clash entre les deux principales forces politiques et economiques qui...

La corbeille frole le ridicule

Britain and Holland were not the only countries to make these wares, however, and if this little bear could speak it would be with a French accent, as this is an example of French faience.

Jackpot pottery

We examine the treatment of urinary incontinence in Ancient Egypt with faience in the light of current concerns regarding the treatment of dysfunctional elimination in children with milk of magnesia.

The ancient use of faience in paediatric illness

One example, a turquoise faience glazed pottery hippo (pictured below) is up for sale at auction on Wednesday.

FOCUS ON AN EGYPTIAN HIPPO; Your money

'During the period of Asia's great sleep, admirable small fragments of faience and mosaic used to fall gently into the silence.

There has clearly been a great reluctance to tackle buildings so tainted by ideology