Click photo to enlarge	GENUINE Click photo to enlarge Click photo to enlarge	FAKE Click photo to enlarge Click photo to enlarge
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The Frie-Onnaing Maître d'Hôtel, or Hôtelier, Pig Pitcher is one of the two most well-known pieces produced by this faiencerie (the other is the Coq Gaulois pitcher).  These two pitchers also have the distinction of being some of the most copied pieces of majolica of all time.  Ironically, the first known "knock-off" of the Frie-Onnaing Maître d'Hôtel Pig Pitcher appeared shortly after the original at the turn-of-the-century.  It was made by Francis Masse of Desvres and bore a remarkable resemblance to the original by Frie-Onnaing.  Masse quickly abandoned his knock-off pitcher, probably thanks to some heavy pressure by Frie-Onnaing.  Today the Masse pitcher is just as "antique" as the Onnaing, and possibly even more sought-after and rare given the short time it was in production.  I'm sorry I don't have a photo of the Masse to share with you. (I wish I did!) Currently there seem to be about three knock-offs of the Frie-Onnaing Maître d'Hôtel Pig Pitcher that I run into most often.  I have shown an example of each one in the photos above.  The first thing to notice are the colors.  None of the fakes have the colors right.  One thing I notice over and over again in the current fake production is their inability to reproduce the turquoise and deep red that was so popular in French majolica at the turn-of-the-century.   In addition, there were 2 color variations on this pitcher made by Frie-Onnaing.  You could get him with a gray jacket or with a brown jacket, not green or aqua.  Nor did Frie-Onnaing use pink for the pig's face as in the top left photo.  The modeling of the pig is much rougher in the fakes, and the overall look is much clunkier.  In the bottom left photo, the handle curves in towards the pigs back, while the original handle had no curve.  The bases for the fakes are larger and more clumsy than Frie-Onnaing's, and either have no mark at all or they are marked either N or No 737 (or some other number), but the key here is the N or No.  The producer of pitchers marked this way has been making fakes for at least 10 years, as that's when I first ran into them.  You'll find these fakes all over Ebay, in flea markets (especially in Europe), and even antique malls.

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