Limoges porcelain

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Limorges porcelain designates hard-paste porcelain produced by factories round the city of Limoges, France from the late 1700s until around 1930.

The manufacturing of hard-paste porcelain at Limoges, following the discovery of local supplies of kaolin, was established by Turgot in 1771 and placed under the patronage of the comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI. Limoges had been the site of a minor industry producing plain faience earthenwares since the 1730s, but the first identified French source of kaolin and a material similar to petuntse, the ingredients used for the production of hard-paste porcelain similar to Chinese porcelain, were discovered at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, near Limoges, in an economically distressed area, and began to be quarried in 1768. The manufactory was purchased by the king in 1784, apparently with the idea of producing hard-paste bodies for decoration at Sèvres, a venture that did not work out.

After the Revolution a number of private factories were established at Limoges, the chief of which was and remains Haviland. Thus "Limoges porcelain" is a generic term for porcelain produced in Limoges rather than the production of a specific factory. Limoges maintains the position it established in the nineteenth century as the premier manufacturing city of porcelain in France.

Today classic Limoge design is used by manufacturers in Thailand, reproducing the famous porcelain at a fraction of the cost of the French manufacturers.

Because of the fame of the name "Limoges" for fine porcelain, scams have arisen with poor quality Limoges porcelain sold at artificially high prices by using sales techniques similar to mock auctions. These scams are under continual investigation by the United Kingdom Trading Standards teams. One, registered in the UK as Limoges Renaissance Ltd undertook formally to West Sussex Trading Standards not to trade in the UK in that manner. However similar companies such as Regency Porcelain and Prestiges de Limoges spring up as one ceases operations.