Is it a chawan?

This may be a bit of a long shot - because I bought this at a bootsale in the Charente in France, so it could be a local potter. I contacted the French Pottery Forum but they did not come up with anything. And the book The French Potters Guide (Guide des céramistes) Poitou-Charentes section drew a blank.

So, I'm wondering whether any of you can help in any way.

Is this what is called a chawan (I think that means 'teabowl')?
What is the amazing glaze?
The signature, to me, seems typically French(!) ... but do you know what it says?

I think it has a bit of age - maybe 70's or 80's.

Height 2.75 inches/6.5cm - diameter 3.75 inches/9.5cm.

Over to you ... any ideas will be very much appreciated ... thanks.

 

I would say this is not a typical tea bowl or chawan, but just a small bowl. Of course you could use it for drinking tea but in my book that does not a chawan make..

Chawan usually have vertical sides and although some can be taller than wide like a yunomi they are more often either square in proportion or wider than they are tall. When I see a bowl flared like yours, I hesitate to describe it as a chawan.

This is an English studio pottery yunomi from my collection:



and a Canadian sang-de-boeuf chawan.

 

I stand corrected ... its a small bowl. Funny really, because the French tea bowl seems to me to be more like a fairly large soup bowl ... so if a French person made this then what was it made for?
... Of course - it might not even BE French !!

 

To my, unprofessional eye, it looks like a matcha bowl. But the signature is not Japanese. I would call it a chawan anyway