no archaeological evidence at Saint-Porchaire to support the village as the kiln site, and the sophisticated range of design sources, both engravings and actual examples of metalwork seems beyond the cultural horizon of a place far from Fontainebleau and Paris. The clay of the area, rich in kaolin, is very suitable for fine pottery, however, and in particular shrinks much less than most when drying. The local magnates and patrons of the pottery, the Montmorency-Laval family, part of the powerful House of Laval, may provide a route between the rural pottery and sophisticated court taste. The court architect Philibert de l'Orme is often brought in to discussions of the ware, but there is no evidence for this. Contemporary parallels for the ornament used have been drawn with metalwork, bookbinding stamps, and ornament prints. Many armorials on Saint-Porchaire wares show that its clients were from the nobility, and religious institutions, in addition to wares that bear the royal arms of Henri II, and in at least one case, Francis I. The device of three interlocked crescents seen on several pieces was used by Henri and his mistress Diane de Poitiers. Wares The production of Saint-Porchaire ware was labour-intensive, and in overall decorative design, no two pieces are alike. The basic clay shapes were thrown on the wheel and perhaps refined on the lathe or were assembled from shaped slabs of clay; the candlesticks, for example, were assembled from more than a hundred separate components. Mould-formed sculptural decoration was applied with slip to make relief masks, festoons, and the like. Additionally, hand-modelled figures might serve as handles for ewers. Banding and fields of fine geometrical decoration or rinceaux were made by repeatedly impressing metal dies into the leather-hard body, or to thin strips of clay that were then stuck on. After further drying the impressions were filled with dark brown, rust red or ochre yellow clay slip that was rubbed off the surface to give an inlay with a discreet range of colors. Further touches of colored slip, such as a spinach green, were applied. It was only realized in the 1950s that many of the zones of repeated small patterns were added to the body as a thin skin already carrying the pattern. It has been suggested that actual bookbinding stamps, in metal for decorating leather bindings, were used on the clay to create the spaces to be filled in with