Faience, tin-glazed, earthenware pottery has been manufactured for several centuries, and some of its patterns, such as Old Strasbourg, with its familiar Rose and Tulip design, have been continued into recent times.
Luneville History
Jacques Chambrette established the first factory for the manufacture of faience in 1728 in Luneville, in the Lorraine region of eastern France. The factory quickly became successful, exporting its wares across Europe in competition with English and German companies. Its success was rewarded with the title Manufacture Royale du Roi de Pologne in 1749 by the exiled king of Poland, who had become the Duke of Lorraine.
In 1758 Chambrette started a second factory in Saint–Clement, which was recognized as the royal supplier to Marie Antoinette's Trianon.
For almost three centuries these factories continued production, adapting techniques and designs from the early hand-painted faience to modern twentieth-century designs, particularly art nouveau, and fostering the work of ceramic artists such as Lachenal and Bussiere.
Luneville's Keller and Guerin Period
The Luneville factory changed hands several times, ending up in the hands of Auguste Keller and Charles Nicholas Guerin around 1786. They acquired the Saint-Clement factory in 1872. The factories remained in the Keller family for almost two centuries.
In the post World War I years, facing financial difficulties, the factories were sold to the Fenal family, who owned them until 1973. Production at Luneville stopped in 1981, but Saint-Clement was still in operation as late as 1999, with the more successful patterns surviving and still bearing the Luneville K&G mark.
Luneville Designs
Some of the classic designs included flowers, animals, insects, exotic figures, roosters, also Chinese motifs, introduced by the Jesuits who brought back examples from their overseas missions, and, of course, the famous Old Strasbourg, with its familiar Rose and Tulip design.
Luneville's Old Strasbourg
The Old Strasbourg pieces were produced in a large range, mainly dinnerware — everything from trivets to soup tureens, the lids often bearing the signature fruit knob. The range included many accouterments for the dinner table: sugar shakers, mustard pots, pickle dishes, pitchers, etc. Tea and coffee sets were also produced. The Rose and Tulip design was also applied to other items, such as pill and powder boxes. Pieces were decorated with either the rose motif or the complementary tulip motif. Collectors collect one or both.
Identifying Luneville
Prior to the Keller–Guerin era, thee early pieces were unmarked, but after Keller and Guerin acquired the firm, their mark was added to the pieces. The signature stamp Luneville K&G was registered in 1879. Examples of its various uses through the years can be found at InfoFaience.com/en/luneville–marks. These marks help establish the origin, material, and the date of manufacture of the pieces.
Spode Luneville
In 1915, the English company Spode produced dinnerware called Marlborough, using the French Rose and Tulip design, later naming it Luneville. After a challenge from the French owners in 1974, Spode dropped the name and reverted to Marlborough Spray. A full range of dinnerware, plus tea and coffee sets, was produced under that name, last noted in the Spode price list of 2006. Spode is now owned by the Portmeiron Group.
The Rose and Tulip design even made it onto wallpaper, with plates displayed on shelves against a turquoise background
Available widely through antique stores, and online sites, or as lucky flea market finds, Old Strasbourg makes an attractive collectible, either by period or piece. Assembling an entire dinner set is a keen collector's challenge!
These floral pieces make a wonderful display, but also make an attractive table decoration for, say, a special occasion: individual place settings complemented by matching trivets, serving dishes and perhaps a Rose or Tulip vase of flowers.
Isme Bennie - Ismé Bennie, a well-known Canadian tv executive, is now a media management consultant and non-fiction writer.
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