XVIIIth century Limoges Porcelain - [Musée national Adrien Dubouché]

XVIIIth century Limoges Porcelain

XIXth century Limoges Porcelain

XXth century Limoges Porcelain

18th century; The Birth of an Industry


	Photo taken of kaolin quarry, late 19th century (Adrien Dubouché Museum archives). Moussaguet Quarry near Coussac-Bonneval. Clay carried out of quarry by women workers.

Since its very beginnings in the 18th century, the renown of Limoges porcelain has grown to become synonymous with the town’s name. The history of European ceramics up until the 18th century might be summarised as the single-minded pursuit of imitating Chinese porcelain, first made by the Chinese towards the end of the T’ang period (10th century). Europeans were fascinated by this white, translucent, shiny and resonant material, apparently obtained by simple firing of clay.

Despite mastering glassmaking and glazed earthenware techniques, European manufacturers lacked kaolin (china clay), a vital ingredient in obtaining porcelain that is hard, translucent and white.

After much prospecting throughout Europe, kaolin deposits were first found in Germany in 1709 and then in France at Saint-Yrieix-La-Perche near Limoges in 1768. This established porcelain manufacturing in the area and under Turgot, the crown’s local administrator, it was seen as a potential source of income for the region. An initial factory was set up in 1771, and by 1774 it had come under the patronage of the Comte d’Artois.

Work produced during this period employed the same decorative patterns used previously in soft-paste porcelain, featuring swathes of flowers or bouquets, sometimes with a gold and dark blue double band and based on simple, little-varied forms. When, in 1784, the local factory was bought by the royal Sèvres company (manufacture royale de Sèvres), shape of ware and decorations became more sophisticated and adventurous.


Comte d’Artois factory mark

The Comte d’Artois Factory

Between 1771 and 1774, Comte d’Artois factory marks seem to have been applied solely to biscuit (unglazed porcelain) pieces. After 1774, the factory mark CD was used systematically on all pieces until the factory’s closure in 1796. Marks were first embossed on the unfired body then painted on in red or sometime blue, after firing and decorating.