A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
CHOISY-LE-ROI ( France)
The brothers Paillart founded Choisy-le-Roi in 1804. Hippolyte Hautin joined
them 20 years later. Not very long after that, Louis Boulenger took the Paillarts
place and the name Boulenger will be associated with the Choisy company until
its closure in 1934.
In 1863, Louis' son, Hippolyte took over and he's the
one who introduced majolica at Choisy. The majolica produced at Choisy was
very fine and of very high quality.
The company attracted artists like Carrier-Belleuse and Paul Comolera and
other potters who had worked for Minton in England. Both Carrier-Belleuse
and Colomera have sculpted fabulous pieces for Choisy.
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FIVES-LILLE ( France)
Around 1870, Gustave de Bruyn, a guy from Flanders (which is where I'm from!),
started a pottery in the North of France. At first they produced less valuable
items, but by the end of the 19 th Century almost their entire production consisted
of majolica. They made vases, planters, umbrella stands, pitchers, humidors
and entire services for daily use.
What I like the most are the Fives wall-items
and vide-poches (pieces in which you put "stuff"). The Fives glazes
and colors are very realistic and just fabulous.
Many wall vases have applied
flowers and butterflies in high relief, in attractive, bright colors.
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GIEN ( France)
Merlin Hall, who had left Montereau, founded a pottery in Gien in 1822. In the beginning of the 19 th Century, like many other potteries, Gien specialized in producing "faience fine" and
by the mid 1800s, they were one of the largest manufacturers in France.
By
1880, Gien also started to make majolica in very limited quantities and a
lot of it was a copy from other companies.
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LONGCHAMP (France)
There's no way that I can talk about French majolica without mentioning Longchamp.
Longchamp is situated in my beloved Burgundy region in France, not far from
Dijon.
At the end of the 19 th Century, Robert Charbonnier decided to revamp
an existing pottery with great success.
Longchamp specialized in majolica planters and vases with applied flowers
in high relief and plates and platters with applied fruits in high relief.
They also made fabulous asparagus and oyster items.
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LONGWY (France)
This company was founded in 1798. They did not produce a lot of majolica.
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LUNEVILLE (France)
The pottery of Luneville goes way back. It was founded around 1730 and like
many other companies, they started production of majolica during the second
half of the 19 th Century under the Keller and Guerin management.
Their majolica
production was pretty much limited to dessert services and other house hold
items. Most famous of course are their wonderful asparagus services and oysterplates
in many unique designs and great glazes.
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NIMY-LEZ-MONS & WASMUEL (Belgium)
These are two Belgian companies, which I'm very proud of. Their majolica
is very much done in the French taste, but both companies produced many unique
pieces and I think that Wasmuel in particular has a very distinctive style.
The pottery of Nimy was founded in 1789, in the Belgian town of Nimy, close
to Mons, hence the name Nimy-lez-Mons. The company was very successful until
1833, when one of the founders died and fierce competition came in from England.
In 1849, Jean-Pierre Mouzin (from Keramis in La Louviere, Belgium) and Theophile
Lecat bought the company and with substantial financial help they succeeded
to turn the company around. With new ovens and new materials (use of coal
instead of wood) they were able to diversify the production and fully compete
with the other companies.
In fact the Nimy pottery was so successful that Mouzin and Lecat started
another pottery in Wasmuel, Belgium, in 1878.
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ONNAING (France)
Onnaing is situated in the North of France, close to Valenciennes.
In 1821, Charles de Bousies founded a pottery here. By that time, he already owned two other companies, among which the well-known Nimy-lez-Mons pottery in Nimy ( Belgium), which he founded in 1789. Actually, in 1894 Onnaing merged with Nimy and its full name from then on was "Société Anonyme de la Faiencerie d'Onnaing".
During the second half of the 19 th Century, the Mouzin brothers bought the
Onnaing company. The Mouzins stayed until the company shut down in 1938.
At that time, around 500 employees were working at Onnaing, most of them
women.
A lot of majolica has been produced at Onnaing. The company employed many talented artists, potters, as well as painters. They made services, planters, vases, banks, but the production of pitchers must have been the Onnaing specialty. The company produced at least 5 new models every year! The variety is really amazing!
Nowadays, the Onnaing pitchers are very much sought after and therefore often expensive, especially the rare examples, such as Joan of Arc or my favorite leopard.
Among the decorations are flowers (iris, roses, pansies ...), geometrical
patterns, animals (Pig dressed as Maitre d'Hotel, Cat playing the mandolin,
Rooster Chanteclair, ...), political and historical figures, or just ordinary
people. The pitchers are of a very good and durable quality and the inside
is usually deep red.
ONNAING MARKS
- Most Onnaing majolica is marked.
- A lot of pieces bear the impressed "O" and "Frie" marks.
- The examples with the Frie Onnaing and Made in France marks are later.
- The oldest pieces would only have a sun or half sun impressed on the bottom.
- All pieces will also have an impressed model number.
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ORCHIES (France)
Orchies was founded in 1886. They started the production of majolica pieces around 1900. They made a lot of planters, which were often heavily decorated, in high relief.
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SAINT-CLEMENT ( France)
Jacques Chambretta, founder of Luneville, started another company in Saint-Clement
in 1758. Keller and Guerin took over Saint-Clement in 1892 and reunited with
Luneville.
Saint-Clement majolica has a very distinctive look. The use of pastels
and delicate flower and animal patterns is typical for the Art Nouveau era.
Well known are the Saint-Clement dessert plates in fruit patterns and the
animal pitchers. The animals are so realistic and detailed that they look almost
real. Many pitchers were made in different sizes and in different color combinations.
By 1922, both Saint-Clement and Luneville became part of the Badonviller
pottery.
Luneville ceased all operations in 1981, but Saint-Clement keeps producing
majolica using the old molds and techniques. The new Saint-Clement pieces
bear distinctly different marks, so that confusion is impossible.
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SALINS (France)
The Salins pottery was founded in 1857 in Salins, in the Jura.
In 1885, Claude-Francois Rigal came to work at Salins, where he introduced
his wonderful Rubelles technique. The Rubelles technique was invented in
France around 1830 and it can best be described as a lithograph onto ceramics.
The majolica production at Salins seems to have been limited to pieces for
daily use, such as asparagus and artichoke plates and servers and dessert
services.
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SARREGUEMINES (France)
The reputation of Sarreguemines pottery is very well established and it's one of my favorite majolica producers.
In 1790, three men founded a small pottery in Sarreguemines, Lorraine (France).
Due to the bad economic situation and the start of the revolution, they were
forced to sell the company to Joseph Fabry and Francois-Paul Utzschneider
in 1800.
Utzschneider had worked for Wedgwood in England and it was his entrepreneurship
and technical expertise that gave the company new life and put Sarreguemines
at the top of the industry.
In the first half of the 19 th Century, like many other French potteries, Sarreguemines excelled in the production of transfer-printed "faience fine" (French
for tin glazed earthenware), but soon after seeing Minton's display of majolica
at the Paris exhibition in 1855, Sarreguemines launched its own line of majolica.
The Sarreguemines company showed its first majolica pieces at the World Expo
in Paris in 1876.
By this time, Alexandre de Geiger, Utzschneider's son-in-law,
had taken over management of the company.
When Sarreguemines became part of Germany after the Franco-German war in 1871,
Paul de Geiger decided to build 2 new factories, one in Digoin (1877) and one
in Virty-le-Francois (1881), in order to ensure the employees' French status
and to keep the company's share in the French market.
The company ordered several
kilns from Minton and started a mass majolica production at Digoin. By then,
the company had a workforce of over 3,000 employees.
Sarreguemines' majolica is of superb quality and the company was without any
doubt one of the best majolica makers around. The colors are flamboyant and
the glazes are brilliant, which makes for very attractive and desirable pieces.
A lot of the early pieces were in the English style, even recreations of
existing English pieces. Renaissance motifs adorned pedestals, planters, fountains
and large architectural pieces.
Many other pieces though were uniquely French and show that typical whimsy.
Sarreguemines produced many historical-political plates and pitchers and of
course, the many Art Nouveau inspired pieces, which were really an exclusive
continental thing.
Of course, the company also made a lot of useful wares,
such as plates, dessert services, water pitchers, compotes, jelly jars, tureens
and baskets.
Finally, I definitely need to talk about the asparagus related majolica pieces.
Especially the companies in the Eastern part of France turned out a lot of
magnificent examples.
Asparagus have always been a German specialty and when
the Northeastern part of France became part of Germany in 1871, a huge new
market for asparagus items opened up.
It's actually in many of these asparagus pieces that Sarreguemines has showed
its mastership of "trompe l'oeil" designs ("trompe l'oeil" is French for "deceive the eye").
You are probably familiar with asparagus laying across plates and platters
or laying in baskets, wrapped in napkins.
Sarreguemines discontinued production of majolica around 1940.
SARREGUEMINES MARKS
- A lot of the Sarreguemines pieces are clearly marked. The company has
used many different marks over the centuries, which enables us to date most
pieces.
- Typically you will see the word "SARREGUEMINES" either impressed
or printed.
- The impressed version was in use until circa 1900. The company used the
printed mark after 1900.
- Between 1870 and 1890, the impressed Sarreguemines usually also has "MAJOLICA" impressed
above it.
- Many times the Sarreguemines pieces have several impressed numbers.
- The number existing of 3 or 4 figures usually refers to the model.
One number between 1 and 4 refers to the size, and the last two
digits refer to the production year (like 05 for 1905)
- The impressed "U & C" within an octagon stands for Utzschnieder
et Company and was in use until 1890.
- From 1881 on you can find majolica marked as Sarreguemines
D & V.
- Sometimes Sarreguemines pieces are marked "ESDEVE". ESDEVE (read
SDV) stands for Sarreguemines, Digoin, Vitry-le-Francois,
with Digoin and Vitry being the two companies that Sarreguemines had created
earlier when Sarreguemines was annexed to Germany.
- The ESDEVE mark was in use until circa 1930.
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WASMUEL & NIMY-LEZ-MONS (Belgium)
These are two Belgian companies, which I'm very proud of. Their majolica
is very much done in the French taste, but both companies produced many unique
pieces and I think that Wasmuel in particular has a very distinctive style.
The pottery of Nimy was founded in 1789, in the Belgian town of Nimy, close
to Mons, hence the name Nimy-lez-Mons. The company was very successful until
1833, when one of the founders died and fierce competition came in from England.
In 1849, Jean-Pierre Mouzin (from Keramis in La Louviere, Belgium) and Theophile
Lecat bought the company and with substantial financial help they succeeded
to turn the company around. With new ovens and new materials (use of coal
instead of wood) they were able to diversify the production and fully compete
with the other companies.
In fact the Nimy pottery was so successful that Mouzin and Lecat started
another pottery in Wasmuel, Belgium, in 1878.
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