![]() The art has been elevated to embrace wonderful whimsy in a variety of collections. Today’s Limoges boxes, however, serve a more decorative and collectable purpose. The process continues to be done by hand and in miniature. Looking back, it is amazing to discover that very little has changed in the manufacturing of Limoges boxes in the 300 years since their introduction. To understand the origins of today’s Limoges porcelain box, one has to consider both the history of porcelain, to discover how Limoges, France became a world leader in producing fine porcelain, and the snuff boxes of the late 17th and 18th centuries, when many of the designs that continue to inspire designers today were first crafted by French factories. Remarkably, they were once objects of scorn – Louis XIV abhorred snuff – and desire – one German count possessed more than 700 of them. When admiring these miniatures, it may be difficult, in this day and age, to imagine the colorful history behind these highly collectible objects d’art. ![]() Nancy du Tertre, The Art of the Limoges Box (2000).A Rochard Limoges porcelain box, easily held in the palm of one’s hand, is the epitome of miniature beauty, of craftsmanship par excellence.Mary Frank Gaston, The Collector's Encyclopedia of Limoges.Debby Dubay, Collecting Hand Painted Limoges Porcelain: Boxes to Vases).Mira Lash, ( List of all Limoges Porcelain: Exclusive Designs and Antiques).Napoleon I was one of the great snuffbox collectors, he had about 100 gold portrait boxes made as tokens of appreciation from his political supporters. Limoges boxes once were often gold boxes that contained portraits of king and other political figures. ![]() ![]() Each model is often made in very limited numbers, & signed by the artists or the atelier. The entire work process is made by hand, so small variations are the norm, thus making each piece really unique. The final touch to a Limoges box is the metal hinged mountings that are meticulously fitted to the finished box. The final firing at a temperature of 1400C is unique to Limoges, giving them a very fine pure and strong white finish. After painting, there are multiple firings. The painting of the Limoges porcelain in the Limoges box industry are accomplished by small handed French artisans, as experts at the fine brush strokes required for such detailed work. The creation of the Limoges Porcelain box is an arduous and time intensive process of creating a master mold, detail painting by hand of color and design, performing multiple firings and glazing upon the porcelain mold, and a final touch of a metal hinge for opening and closing. In the 20th century they became popularly used as pillboxes. During the Victorian era the Limoges boxes lost popularity again until the 1970s when people began to carry their pills in the Limoges porcelain boxes. Snuff eventually went out of fashion around the time of the French Revolution but putting pills in Limoges boxes became popular. Additionally independent makers produced them with no signature or marking. There were four big porcelain factories that made snuff boxes around this time, Chantilly porcelain (1725–1800), Saint-Cloud porcelain (1677–1766), Mennecy porcelain (1734–73), and the royal Vincennes porcelain (1740–56), which moved to become Sèvres porcelain (1756–present). These cannot be identified by back stamp marks, for none were put on them. There were faience snuffboxes that were produced sometime around 1730. Under Louis XIV these small boxes were used to hold a lock of lady's hair or small poem.Įxactly when and who made the first porcelain snuffbox is up for debate. The earliest were those that held thimbles and embroidery scissors and then round flat Limoges boxes were formed and used as powder boxes, and/or snuff boxes. From here, other shapes of limoges porcelain boxes evolved. The first Limoges trinket boxes were long narrow containers that were created for expensive needles. Limoges porcelain boxes were first created in the mid-18th century after Jacques Turgot, Finance Minister of King Louis XVI, gave a Royal edict to the city of Limoges, France the exclusive right to produce Royal Limoges porcelain for the Kingdom of France. They are made of hard-paste porcelain and collected worldwide. The Limoges Box is type of small hinged porcelain trinket box produced by Limoges porcelain factories near the city of Limoges, France. ( August 2019) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations.
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