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Boutou coat By Louise Gauthier Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 The Clogs The origin and date of the first wooden clog sabot in French boutou coat in Breton klompa in Swedish klomp in Dutch and klump in German is unknown and therefore difficult to determine Photo www wikipedia org wiki Clog Klompen in poplar from the Netherlands Ardennes clogs open type Mus e du Sabot de Porcheresse Belgium www fr wikipedia org wiki Sabot The history and its origin often remain contradictory according to F Back and Wikipedia Some date the wooden shoe to the period of the Roman Empire others to the beginning of the 12th century Several attribute the origin to Holland It is a fact that the oldest clogs discovered in Europe were found in Amsterdam dating from 1230 and in Rotterdam from 1280 The clog as we know it appeared mainly between 1480 and 1520 and experienced rapid growth in the populations of France Belgium the Netherlands and the area north west of the Germanic Roman Empire to Denmark and Scandinavia Photo www pinterest ca Swedish klompa This paper will mainly present clogs from France specifically Brittany

In France its widespread use of clogs took off with the reign of Queen Anne de Bretagne 1477 1514 Bold Parisians nicknamed her the duchess in sabots A song for children called C tait Anne de Bretagne was written The first verses translate to It was Anne of Brittany Duchess in wooden shoes Returning from her domain in her wooden shoes Ah Ah Ah Long live the wooden shoes The Henriot earthenware factory and the artist Jacques Pohier have created this magnificent Anne de Bretagne plate where the clogs are well represented Anne de Bretagne plate right under the coat of arms Brittany until I die Bretagne ma vie on the reverse HR Quimper Photo right Mus e de la fa ence de Quimper HR Quimper inv R 159 Sabot with bust of Anne de Bretagne Photo Mus e de la fa ence de Quimper HR Quimper inv A219 Fran ois Villon seemed the first to use the term sabot in his Ballade de la Grosse Margot 1461 The word sabot comes from the combination of the words savate meaning old slipper or old worn shoe and the old French bot masculine for boot The design was intended to cover the foot and thus protect it from the elements of nature while providing comfort Clogs from France First Empire 1804 1814 Mus e du Sabot de Porcheresse Belgium Photo www wikipedia org

The thick clog keeps the foot safe from shocks burns wet surfaces mud and snow The clog is traditionally worn by peasants and farmers but also by factory mill and steel workers as well as sailors Various shapes were created to accommodate the many cultures and their needs The list would be too long to name them all Luxury clogs made in Alsace Mus e Espace des m tiers du bois et du patrimoine Alsace France Photo www fr wikipedia org wiki Sabot The clicking rhythmic sound made by clogs while walking inspired clog dancing during the Victorian period in England This dance ultimately arrived in the United States during the nineteenth century and influenced the creation of modern tap dance shoes Trivia Who started his career in music halls as a clog dancer Keep reading In the 20th through 21st centuries the sabot evolved into a trendy footwear Well known shoe and fashion houses like Louis Vuitton now offer clogs Today the initially criticized Crocs appear on runways Photo https ca louisvuitton com Cottage clog mule Photo www bing com images Crocs

The souvenir industry generates a multitude of clogs in an assortment of materials and for diverse uses Photo www laboutiquedusabot fr Clog key ring Photo www etsy com fr Miniature Dutch clogs Photo Louise Gauthier Souvenir from Mus e du Petit Meuble Breton Plozevet 2 6inches 7cm Trivia answer from previous page Charlie Chaplin Photo below Bottle holder shoe www jmw vpc com blog

The sabot in Brittany For centuries the rustic wooden shoe successfully kept humidity and cold away from the feet of the poor and humble of Brittany The sound of the clogs knocking on the wooden floors still resonates in the memories of many and fills others with anticipated eagerness for their participation in dances and parades Often overlooked the boutou coat lacks the appeal of the other pieces of the Breton costume such as imposing collars lace headdresses or embroidered vests Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 The clogs remained essential and many generations of clog makers sabotiers dedicated their lives to them In 2005 Micheriou Koz published an edition on Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors The Forest of Coatloc h lake wood is a natural site near Sca r Finist re 36 km from Quimper The magazine article describes the fascinating story of the clog makers and their families who lived in the woods for several months each year Here is a summary of their history

Men of the woods The clog makers lived as nomads settling from forest to forest with companions and or family The forests provided them with the material to work with before they moved elsewhere Since the woodland is often perceived as a secret and disturbing place these transients who dwelled in forest huts often aroused fear curiosity and mistrust They were nicknamed Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat souls of the woods inneanen coat et de Camors no11 2005 Their encrypted and mysterious language achieved by striking blows on a wooden cylinder echoed in the timberland Considered as rough and fierce people they lived in solitude and poverty despite their hard work They rarely experienced social relationships outside of their circle and all called themselves cousins a kind of spiritual kinship Marriage to people outside their tribe rarely happened The sons of clog makers learned the trade by reproducing the gestures of their fathers They were born in the forest and they would die there Their craftsmanship commanded respect since from a piece of wood they created a beautiful useful object smooth and impeccable in form Their reputation as honest and loyal men in addition to their friendliness welcome and enthusiasm were recognized They liked to have fun dance and party on holidays like the Saint Sabot holiday The clog makers attributed to their patron saint Saint Ren Bishop of Angers and Sorrento 5th century the invention of the sabot October 19 represented a day of celebration Saint Ren Photo above Stained glass window in the Cathedral of Saint Corentin Quimper

Huts Clog makers purchased the desired location in the forest for logging directly from the owner or by the ones owned by the State from a court Since the 17th century Louis XIV had forbidden the woodworking trades to hold workshops within 2 222 km of the royal forests in order to prevent fires Families and workers arrived with all the materials needed to build large round huts with branches dry leaves grass moss or earth for one or two seasons These primitive shelters turned out to be relatively comfortable with a highperformance fireplace in the center and an outside chimney Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 All the furniture bed trunk bench was built on site except the family wardrobe Towards the center of the hut stood the easels bench of the workshop Some had a canopy for rainy days to avoid suffocating inside with the stove keeping the fire lit 24 hours a day If the cuts of wood came to be near each other the huts formed real villages When the wood was exhausted they deserted the camp Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005

Coat Loc h s clog maker s week in 1906 The dormant wood the fallen leaves and the low sap all indicate the Fall as an ideal time for cutting wood The clog maker Corentin and his tribe of 14 workers shown below lived through intense weeks in November Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 On Mondays all the trees they would need for the week must be picked and cut Hardwoods like beech are used in 90 of clogs followed by elm and ash The softer woods birch or chestnut promote the embedding of gravel and sand in the soles thus becoming non slip for sailors on boats The wood of the trunk near the root being more solid served for the heavy clogs of the men while the wood in the middle was used for the women The lighter clogs of children employed the wood from the top of the tree Tuesdays the men chopped the freshly cut green trees into thick slices All the pieces of a tree were labelled with the same number same wood same fibers same sabot life expectancy They then divided each slice into quarters according to an estimated number of clogs Each cubic meter of wood gave sixty pairs of men s and seventy of women s shoes Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005

During the rest of the week the youngsters trimmed the quarters as close as possible to the measurement of future clogs However it happens that some trunks display knots cracks or a nest of vermin resulting in fewer shoes Afterwards the craftsmen tailor and digger get to work Together they can make 10 to 12 pairs in a day With a small ax the tailor shapes the form of the shoe while bearing in mind humidity perspiration drying of wood right and left foot A plumb sole and rounded sides like those of a ship translate into finished work for him Next the emerging clog advances to the digger who with one of his tools the spoon hollows it out and sculpts it according to the desired size The sabots dry for at least a week near the fire The young workers pair the right and left shoes with a string as they must be of the same number and size The wooden clog size corresponds to two thirds of the shoe size clog 30 shoe 45 The bosses classify them according to distinctive categories raw wood working clogs heavier clogs and so on They are then delivered to the market or shops Rudimentary clogs do not sell for a high price As a result the wages paid according to the number of wooden shoes produced are meager Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005

Settlement The new roads and the railroad broke the isolation of the clog maker who can now establish his workshop in the community Each steeple town possessed its sabotier In addition most workshops featured a store where his wife sold rubber soles beautiful leather straps decorated with bouquets felt slippers to replace straw etc A pair of clogs worn daily will last about 3 months Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 Appreciated and respected the clog maker saw people come to him for all the major stages of their life the child s first shoe those for school fine shoes for the bride shoe to go to Mass to go dancing for every day and for everyone peasants factory workers carpenters fishermen Photo Lucy Williams By Bouvier for HB Quimper

Of course you wore your clogs when you played p tanque bowling Henriot produced a colorful charger but also a trivet depicting the boule players of this painting Th ophile Deyrolle 1844 1923 Les joueurs de boules 1887 Mus e des Beaux Arts Quimper Public domain Trivet with boules players Photo Mus e de la fa ence de Quimper HR Quimper inv 86 Meyer de Haan sabots Photo below Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 And if you happen to be an artist like Meyer de Haan you want aesthetic sabots From Amsterdam Meyer de Haan 1852 1895 a close friend of Paul Gauguin 1848 1903 and a member of the Pont Aven School paid Gauguin s board in exchange for lessons

Industrialization Over time machines for making clogs evolved and suitable ones that no longer hurt the feet developed The twelve pairs crafted by the clog maker in a day now took an hour with the electrified mechanisms However the clog maker must complete the work such as cutting and drawing the shape of the heel or removing all the irregular marks left by the blade Finally he must as in the past do the drying decorating and dyeing During WWI hundreds of clog makers died in Verdun thus leaving the industrial makers prevailing Following WWII the rustic wooden shoe lost popularity in favor of modernity Rubber boots practical on farms and lighter leather for working or walking took preference The little world of the clogs and the sabotiers became a bygone era The black shoe in the middle photo below serves as a model for the machine Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 Fa ences and clogs Many factories in several countries conceive fa ences either showing or shaped as clogs However this paper will limit itself to those of the Quimper area such as Henriot HB FAB K raluc as well as Malicorne Let us start with the clogs worn by the characters and then follow with fa ences shaped as a sabot

Breton sabots on fa ences Fa encerie workers don clogs whatever their job You can see them here in these old postcards washing and preparing the clay or carrying a board full of pitchers Photo Quimper Pottery A century of post cards Photo Quimper Pottery A century of post cards Philippe Lalys DNST Services 2014 Philippe Lalys DNST Services 2014 People of all ages wore clogs as the fa ences reveal from young boys and girls to the coiffed lady giving a flower to her lover to the old man from Locronan who puts forward his huge sabots Photo http brugalantiquites com HB Quimper Berthe Savigny bookends

Photo Louise Gauthier HB Quimper 64 P B charger diameter 12 5 inches 32cm Photo Louise Gauthier HB Quimper Bouvier Children dancing Can you hear their clack clack clack Photo Louise Gauthier PB Bannalec

Photo Louise Gauthier HB Quimper examples of figures with black shoes Photo right Lucy Williams Musicians by R MicheauVernez for Henriot Quimper The majority of fa ences with figures exhibit black shoes Why In many areas of France most clogs are dyed black either by smoking or with the black clog liquid Spreading this liquid over the entire surface with cloths and brushes gives an intense and mat black finish A black varnish makes them sparkle Still smoking the clogs rather than varnishing them seems to be preferred During the smoking process the carbon colors the wood black The smoke aids in waterproofing the green wood and protecting it against insects The smoking is done over a slow combustion fire without flames but with a lot of smoke On a fire of green wood shavings which create steam a horse s hoof is placed to aid in making dense smoke The clogs are placed above the fire and absorb the steam and smoke while slowly drying The smoke coats the sabots and blackens them making a varnish like finish To prevent them from splitting during drying basting with linseed oil or rubbing with garlic cloves is employed This could be why so many fa ences display characters with black shoes Remember the black wooden shoe serving as a model for the machine

Clogs shaped fa ences It is surprising to note that few fa ence clog forms exist despite the everyday use of sabots in Brittany as well as in the diverse workplaces The numerous salt and pepper clogs made by different pottery factories are familiar to most collectors and are found in many collections Gay Smith and Debi Raitz have written interesting articles on salt and on forms in the QCI Journal Photo left Rene Hughey Salt and Pepper Photo Louise Gauthier Henriot salt and peppers of different sizes left form 596 right form 266 Photo above Louise Gauthier Two salt and pepper HB Quimper of different periods left 1883 1904 right 1969 1983 Photo above www lecoinbreton com Keraluc pr s Quimper 100 salt and pepper Photo right Louise Gauthier Salt and pepper HB Quimper 266 P3 4 inches 10cm form 266

Single sabots generally present in two sizes small such as the 8cm 3 or as the 17cm 6 5 for the wallpocket as shown in the 1997 Art de Cornouaille et Maison A Breton La Civette catalogue Photo Catalogue Art de Cornouaille et Maison A Breton La Civette D cor Fleuri Royal Sp cial HB Henriot 1997 p 26 Photo Catalogue Art de Cornouaille et Maison A Breton La Civette D cor Armorique FAB 1997 p 2 Here is an example of form 631 Photos Patricia Hull FAB Quimper France 6 5 inches

Photo above Rene Hughey Single clogs Photos above Patricia Hull Malicorne pierced for wall hanging Photos Louise Gauthier Henriot Quimper AA 100 4 5 inches 11 5cm pierced for wall hanging

The clog form had several other functions in Quimper fa ence the four sabots flower vase the flower vase supported on a scroll the matches container for wall hanging the snuff or secouette the tiny pendant for a necklace the Christmas and or special occasion clog and the souvenir sabot marked with the name of a city Except for tourist mementoes many of these clogs were produced in small numbers and remain rare and hard to find Photo above Louise Gauthier HB Quimper x 130 Flower vase on a scroll base 3 52 x 2 25 9cm x 6cm Photo ebay fr AP Fa ence No l Photo www quimperantiques com Photo Lucy Williams Henriot Quimper Ivoire Corbeille decor Photo Lucy Williams unsigned Quimper secouette 3 25 4 Photo Lucy Williams L R HR Quimper and Henriot Quimper 2 5 Center HB mark Perros Guirec 4

Finally clogs made with mixed media such as wood and fa ence can sometimes be encountered as in the following pictures Photo Louise Gauthier HB Wood and fa ence inkwell Photo Daniel Le Roy Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors no11 2005 In 2006 Anne Everest Wojtkowski wrote an article entitled Featured Form Shoes in the QCI Journal In it you will find some sabots since they are also shoes Although nineteen QCI members contributed pictures to her paper including this author we find few clog forms mainly salt and pepper and vases Have you seen sabot bookends or money bank or egg cup or Christmas ornament The boutou coat in present times Do you want to immerse yourself in the past of the Breton clog makers About 36 km from Quimper the forest of Coatloc h in Sca r offers a hiking trail of about 3 km 45 minutes walk during which you will see many beautiful varieties of birds and native plants as well as a clog maker s hut Clog maker s lodge For t de Coatloc h Sca r Photo www e monsite com

The Christian Le Roy clog making factory was bought by Claude Pelletier who in turn bequeathed his know how to Michel Cousin who then became the last clog maker in the Finist re His Saboterie de L on currently located in St Pol de L on right next to Roscoff features a shop and a workshop Nowadays clogs sell mainly for popular festivals souvenirs and also gardening work Photo Laureen Keravec for Saboterie de L on workshop To continue your boutou coat journey The Living Museum of Old Trades in Argol on the Crozon peninsula awaits you Passionate volunteers will share with you their knowhow including a clog maker a blacksmith an embroiderer a weaver etc Clog dancing can be seen at traditional folk festivals at dance exhibitions and competitions all over the world It is characterized by the wearing of rigid wooden soled shoes The performer uses his feet to generate rhythmic and percussive sounds to synchronize with the music Competitions from novice to senior national conventions and educational workshops take place every year The Cloggers Directory names 122 clubs mainly in Great Britain Europe and the United States Photo www bing com images Finally let us come back to our beloved fa ences and appreciate the few sabot shapes we own Photo Rene Hughey

Acknowledgements Micha l Breton Art de Cornouaille Quimper Brittany France Nancy Duncan editor Rene Hughey photo QCI member Patricia Hull photo QCI member Laureen Keravec photographer Saboterie de L on Philippe Lalys artist and author Daniel Le Roy photographer Micheriou Koz J r my Varoquier Mus e de la fa ence de Quimper Quimper Brittany France Lucy Williams editor layout photo QCI member References Back Francis Le sabot Cap Aux Diamants no71 2002 p 59 Lalys Philippe Quimper Pottery A century of post cards DNST Services Pub 2014 Micheriou Koz Les sabotiers de Coat Loc h et de Camors ditions Kylan s Rosporden No 11 Automne 2005 Raitz Debi Forms and Decors Salts QCI Journal Vol 6 No 2 December 2004 Smith Gay Salt in the Gu rande QCI Journal Vol 6 No 2 December 2004 Wikipedia www fr wikipedia org wiki Sabot chaussure Wojtkowski Anne Everest Featured Form Shoes QCI Journal Vol 8 No 2 December 2006