Smooth Chattered Ovoid Vase - Loïc GAIGNART, France

I bought this amazingly smooth vase last week-end in France.

It is a puzzle to me ... it doesn't look French (perhaps German, Belgian - but I am hoping it is Scandinavian!); I have no idea as to how it was made (other than a smooth 'paddle' was used to make it smooth ... oh, and a 'chattering' tool was used to give the top texture); the French call a surface that has a variety of slips or glazes 'Jaspée'; the mark is ambivalent (can you have an ambivalent mark?!) ... could it be a Z then a G followed by a small L?

It is 9cm high by 10cm diameter.

Any ideas?

the colours and chattering give it an a reptile skin quality, I love it

...LOL ... but it feels SO good in the hand ... you don't think this could be American do you?

Its terra sigillata. I don’t recognise the mark. Many places make them, from Africa to India to Nicaragua to studio potters.

... Yes! This is what we need to hear! Brilliant NaomiM ... thanks! I will now trawl around (especially the French places) with terra sigillata! Is that an Italian term? I have never heard of it before ... but then again I only paint and draw pictures!!

Latin, I believe. It has various meanings but these days it’s used to describe unglazed terracotta where the surface has been burnished and may or may not have additional decoration in relief. One of the great 20thC studio potters using it was Siddig El Nigoumi

I am going through what seems to be an endless list of Terra sigillata on pinterest ... the nearest ceramics seems to be either Gabriele Koch (but I don't think so) or a French potter called Jean Grison ... I am not confident about that either ... I am simply finding myself gob-smacked by what I see ... I'll get there. I've contacted the pottery school of Marcia Selsor and they are on the case ... I'll let you know if anything turns up ... in the mean time ...

Similarish to my Gunnar Nyland vase half way down the page.

https://www.20thcenturyforum.com/t2629-nymolle-denmark

Now wouldn't that be something denbydump! However, the French forum have offered me an initial identification - Jean Jacques Gentil. I will try and contact him and see what he says ...

It has been suggested that this is by Jean Grison (if anyone knows his mark then it would be helpful to see it). I have found his email address and I have contacted him ... I'll let you know if it is his ...

... He responded and said it is not his. But he suggested I ask Suzy and Jen Balkert in Suisse ... I've emailled them and am waiting for their response ... but I have my doubts because the mark does not bear any resemblance to their names ... we shall see. If, in the meantime anyone has a Balkert mark I would love to see it to compare ...

Hello
Loïc GAIGNART -
24340 La Rochebeaucourt-et-Argentine
FRANCE

confirmed by the ceramist himself