Gadrooned Earthenware Jug From Langeais, 19th Century

Gadrooned jug in Langeais earthenware, 19th century Creamy white background with ribs enhanced with platinum Very elegant handle Interior collar very largely underlined with platinum Small pedestal Below platinum number Very good general condition Slight wear on platinum h: 20 cm long: 17 cm wide : 12 cm History of earthenware: In 1839, aged 22, Charles de Boissimon settled in Langeais with his cousin, they founded a company of ceramic products and refractory bricks. Presented in 1841 at the Exhibition of "Industrial and Arts Products in Tours", they received a silver medal, but it was with the making of decorated pottery that he would create his style. He will participate in many international exhibitions and will win many medals. In 1850, he became sole owner of the factory. The materials used at that time already offer great possibilities of colors obtained from metal oxides such as chromium, cobalt, copper, tin, iron, manganese, lead, uranium, zinc... which produce greens, blues, grays, yellows, shades of red, browns and ivory. Charles begins to offer customers vases, cups and lamps decorated with grapes and vines. Charles de Boissimon was also a winegrower and would like to draw inspiration from nearby nature. The production was very diverse: ivy berries, currants, acorns, cherries... Between 1850 and 1860 there was a real explosion of techniques. Brongniart advised Charles to add kaolin to Langeais clay to make it even more malleable. C. de Boissimon will then be able to give free rein to his imagination. There are vases, woven baskets… It was in 1862 that Charles de Boissimon filed a patent “for printing gold and platinum on vitrifiable materials”. This material is still little known, it is imported from Peru and Chile. Here begins the period of the Langeais with platinum decoration. This unalterable and stainless metal gives earthenware an incomparable shine. Charles de Boissimon died in 1879. His son, a doctor, left management of the factory to Paul Arthur Busson de Langeais. Little investment is made in the factory. In 1889, he too died. His widow will do everything to save the company but in vain. The company was sold in 1909. The new owners tried to revive the factory and again made artistic earthenware that they intended for foreign markets. The 1914 war breaks out. The plant is dedicated solely to the production of refractories. At the end of the war tastes changed, the production of earthenware was definitively abandoned.