manufactured after his removal to Paris, as the shells are always well-known forms from the Eocene deposits of the Paris basin. Casts from these objects were fixed on to a metal dish or vase of the shape required, and a fresh cast of the whole formed a mould from which Palissy could reproduce many articles of the same kind. The various parts of each piece were painted in realistic colours, or as nearly so as could be reached by the pigments Palissy was able to discover and prepare. These colours were mostly various shades of blue from indigo to ultramarine, some rather vivid greens, several tints of browns and greys, and, more rarely, yellow. A careful examination of the most authentic Palissy productions shows that they excel in the sharpness of their modelling, in a perfect neatness of manufacture and, above all, in the subdued richness of their general tone of colour. The crude greens, bright purples and yellows are only found in the works of his imitators; whilst in the marbled colours on the backs of the dishes Palissy’s work is soft and well fused, in the imitations it is generally dry, even harsh and uneven. Other pieces, such as dishes and plaques, were ornamented by figure subjects treated after the same fashion, generally scriptural scenes or subjects from classical mythology, copied, in many cases, from works in sculpture by contemporary artists.
Another class of designs used by Palissy were plates, tazze and the like, with geometrical patterns moulded in relief and pierced through, forming a sort of open network. Perhaps the most successful, as works of art, were those plates and ewers which Palissy moulded in exact facsimile of the rich and delicate works in pewter for which François Briot and other Swiss metal-workers were so celebrated. These are in very slight relief, executed with cameo-like finish, and are mostly of good design belonging to the school of metal-working developed by the Italian goldsmiths of the 16th century. Palissy’s ceramic reproductions of these metal plates were not improved by the colours with which he picked out the designs.
Some few enamelled earthenware statuettes, full of vigour and expression, have been attributed to Palissy; but it is doubtful whether he ever worked in the round. On the whole his productions cannot be assigned a high rank as works of art, though they have always been highly valued, and in the 17th century attempts were made, both at Delft and Lambeth, to adapt his “rustic” dishes with the reliefs of animals and human figures. These imitations are very blunt in modelling and coarsely painted. They are generally marked on the back in blue with initials and a date—showing them to be honest adaptations to a different medium, not attempts at forgery such as have been produced during the last fifty years or so. One of the first signs of the revival of old French faience, a movement that was in great activity between 1840 and 1870, was the appearance of copies of Palissy’s “Bestiole” dishes, made with great skill and success by Avisseau of Tours, and afterwards by Pull of Paris. Though both these men produced original Works of their own, collectors have had great cause to regret the excellence of their copies, for many of the best, being unmarked, have found their way into good collections. The well-known potter, Barbizet, who set out to make “Palissys” for the million, flooded France for a time with rude copies that ought never to have deceived anyone.
The best collections of Palissy’s ware are those in the museums of the Louvre, the Hôtel Cluny, and Sèvres; and in England that in the Victoria and Albert Museum, together with a few choice specimens in the British Museum and in the Wallace Collection.
As an author, Palissy was undoubtedly more successful than as a potter. A very high position amongst French writers is assigned to him by Lamartine (B. Palissy, 8vo., Paris, 1852). He wrote with vigour and simplicity on a great variety of subjects, such as agriculture, natural philosophy, religion, and especially in his L’Art de terre, where he gives an account of his processes and how he discovered them.
See Morley, Life of Palissy (1855); Marryat, Pottery (1850, pp. 31 seq.); A. Dumesnil, B. Palissy, le potter de terre (1851); A. Tainturier, Terres émaillées de Bernard Palissy (1863); Delecluze, B. Palissy (1838); Enjubault, L’Art céramique de B. Palissy (1858); Audiat, Étude sur la vie . . . de B. Palissy (1868); H. Delange, Monographie de l’œuvre de B. Palissy (1862). For Palissy as a Huguenot, see Rossignol, Des Protestantes illustres. No. iv. (1861). The best English account of Palissy as a potter is that given by M. L. Solon, the most distinguished pottery-artist of the 19th century, in his History and Description of the Old French Faïence (1903). (W. B.*)
PALITANA, a native state of India in the Kathiawar agency
of the Bombay presidency. Area, 289 sq. m.; pop. (1901),
52,856, showing a decrease of 15% in the decade. The chief is a Gohel Rajput, with the title of Thakur Sahib. Gross revenue,
£42,000; tribute jointly to the gaekwar of Baroda and the nawab
of Junagarh, £700. The capital of the state is Palitana;
pop. 12,800. Above the town to the west rises the hill of
Satrunja, sacred to the Jains. On this hill, which is truly a
city of temples, all the peculiarities of Jain architecture are
found in a marked degree. Some of the temples are as old as
the 11th century, and they are spread over the intervening
period down to the present. The hill is visited by crowds of
pilgrims every year.
See J. Burgess, Notes of a Visit to Satrunjaya Hill (Bombay, 1869).
PALK STRAITS, the channel lying between the mainland of India and the island of Ceylon. It is named after Robert
Paik, governor of Madras (1755–1763). The straits lie north
of the line of reefs called Adam’s Bridge, while the Gulf of
Manaar lies south of it. The two channels are connected by the
Pamban passage.
PALL, a word the various meanings of which can be traced
to the Latin word pallium, that is, a piece of cloth used either
as a covering or as a garment. In the last sense the pallium was
the ἱμάτιον, the square or oblong-shaped outer garment of the Greeks. In the sense of a garment the English usage of “pall”
is confined to the ecclesiastical vestment (see Pallium) and to
the supertunica or dalmatic, the pallium regale or imperial
mantle, one of the principal coronation vestments of British
sovereigns. The heraldic bearing known as a “pall” takes
the form of the Y of the ecclesiastical vestment. The chief
applications of the word, in the sense of a covering, are to an
altar frontal, to a linen cloth used to veil the chalice in the
Catholic service of the Eucharist, and to a heavy black, purple
or white covering for a coffin or hearse. The livery companies of
London possessed sumptuous state palls for the funerals of their
members, of which some are still in existence. The Merchant
Taylors’ company have two examples of Italian workmanship.
The so-called “Walworth pall” of the Fishmongers’ company
probably dates from the 16th century. The Vintners’ pall is
of cloth of gold and purple velvet, with a figure of St Martin
of Tours, the company’s patron saint.
An entirely different word is “to pall,” to become or make stale, insipid or tasteless, hence to cease to interest from constant repetition; this is a shortened form of “appal” (O. Fr. appallir, to become pale; Lat. pallidus).
PALLA, Pala, or Impala, the native name of a red South
African antelope of the size of a fallow-deer, characterized by
the large black lyrate horns of the bucks, and the presence in
both sexes of a pair of glands on the back of the hind feet
bearing a tuft of black hairs. On the east side the palla
(Aepyceros melampus) ranges as far north as the southern
Sudan; but in Angola it is replaced by a species or race (Ae.
petersi) with a black “blaze” down the face. Pallas associate
in large herds on open country in the neighbourhood of water.
(See Antelope.)
PALLADIAN, the term given in English architecture to
one of the phases of the Italian Renaissance, introduced into
England in 1620 by Inigo Jones, a great admirer of the works
of Andrea Palladio (q.v.). In 1716, Richard Boyle, 3rd earl
of Burlington, who also admired the works of Palladio, copied
some of them, the front of old Burlington House being more
or less a reproduction of the Palazzo Porto at Vicenza, and the
villa at Chiswick a copy of the Villa Capua near Vicenza. It
is probably due to Lord Burlington that the title Palladian is
the designation for the Italian style as practised in England.
In 1862 Sir Gilbert Scott’s Gothic design for the new government
offices was rejected and Lord Palmerston selected in preference
the Palladian style. In France and America, Barozzi Vignole
(1507–1573), another Italian architect, holds a similar position
as the chief authority on the Italian Renaissance.
PALLADIO, ANDREA (1518–1580), Italian architect, was
born in Vicenza on the 30th of November 1518. The works
of Vitruvius and Alberti were studied by him at an early period,
and his student life was spent in Rome, where he was taken by
