Vestiaire Saint-Vincent - Amboise
Vestiaire Saint-Vincent - Amboise
This Post is part The Old Curiosity Shop (Dickens) part Fake or Fortune (BBC) and part Tommy and Tuppence (Agatha Christie’s amateur detectives).
The old curiosity shop is Vestiaire Saint-Vincent* in rue Nationale, Amboise.
Just like Dickens’ old curiosity shop, it sells second - hand books (we once found early Agatha’s), clothes, shoes, toys, jewellery and crockery (an ancient poubelle de table bought from there is our pride and joy) but in truth you never know what out of the ordinary gem will turn up.
For example. Many weeks after he spotted them, Tommy told Tuppence about ‘some lovely old dolls’ in the window. Tuppence, who as Christie devotees know, is the more impulsive and intuitive of the pair, wailed Now you tell me! Really Tommy! Get round there! See if there are any left.
Luckily there were. Just four out of goodness knows how many but what captivating gems they are. Not old ‘dolls’, but old figurines and not your run of the mill figurines. These are special, very, very special and that’s what’s special about the shop. Nothing to look at from the outside you never know what treasures you might stumble across inside.
One figurine is signed S. Jouglas.
It transpires that Simone Jouglas from Provence made the first dressed santon. She was awarded the Chevalier du Mérite Artisanal Gold Medal, the Meilleur Ouvrier (best worker) de France medal and the Gold Medal of French National Merit. Wow. Wow and Wow but what, pray, is a santon?
Originally, in Provence, santons (santoun, little saint) represented The Holy Family and other characters from the Christmas crib. The Nativity scene featured the child Jesus, the Virgin Mary, Saint Joseph, The Three Kings, shepherds, angels and the inhabitants of a Provençal village plying their traditional trades. The first Provençal santons were made from unfired red clay.
When the French Revolution closed churches and banned midnight mass, santons and Christmas cribs started appearing in the privacy of people’s homes.
Simone Jouglas’ fired terra cotta santons are faithful copies of locals practising Provençal crafts in the time of Louis-Philippe. She created numerous characters including the fisherman, fishmonger, water carrier, wood gatherer, gardener, farmer, miller, baker, basket maker, tinker, grinder, washerwoman, hunter, chimney sweep, priest, monk, mayor, fortune teller and farm hands.
With their beguiling, exquisitely sculpted facial expressions and authentic costumes made from authentic old Provençal fabrics our santons are, quite simply, works of art.
Simone JOUGLAS, born in 1905, grew up in Marseilles where she studied ceramics at l’ Ecole des Beaux- Arts. During the war, she, her parents and her father’s brother joined the local resistance movement in Marseilles. Tragically, her family disappeared. She alone survived.
Simone began making santons after the war and continued almost to the end of her life. She died in 2001 age 94.
Good news. Her workshop still creates santons from the original moulds. The figurines are still dressed by hand.
More good news. In 2003 UNESCO had the life affirming idea of holding a Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It recognised the threats of its disappearance and the need to build a greater awareness, especially among the younger generations, of the importance of safeguarding their intangible heritage.
Even better news. The traditional know-how of the santon makers of Provence is listed in the Inventory of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of France.
The Vestiaire Saint-Vincent* in Amboise launched in 1936, is, like the santons we bought from there, a labour of love. Volunteers spend a long time carefully cleaning each donation. The proceeds from sales finance wonderful and imaginative causes such as a project to buy virtual reality headsets and digital tablets equipped with an entertainment library for children in hospital.
Association Vestiaire Saint Vincent 109 Rue nationale, 37400 Amboise.
* Tuesdays and Friday afternoons 14.00 - 17.30 and the second Saturday in every month.
Post by Pamela, photography by Mark.
