Style Japonism, Chinoiserie / Ref.11430

MANUFACTURE JULES VIEILLARD & CIE - Japanese coffee set with animals

Rare coffee set in fine earthenware with enamels in relief on a green background sprinkled with gold, including a coffee pot, a milk jug, a sugar bowl and six cups with their saucer.
All the pieces are adorned with polychrome decoration of humanized animals, dressed in kimonos in a natural environment composed of trees and insects. They are busy fishing, playing the flute or the accordion.
A same model set presenting some variants in the decor is now preserved in the collections of the Museum of Decorative Arts in Bordeaux.

Jules Vieillard in Bordeaux :
It was in 1840 that Jules Vieillard (8 June 1813 - 17 September 1868), a native of Paris already famous as porcelain maker, teamed up with David Johnston, who headed a large faience factory in the Bacalan district, which was occupying more than 700 workers and producing 70,000 pieces a week. Somewhat exceeded by the management of the company, David Johnston will be forced to give it in to his partner Jules Vieillard in February 1845.
Appreciated by Brongniart, director of the Manufacture Royale de Sèvres, the Bordeaux pottery wins medals at several World’s Fairs in Paris. Jules Vieillard then work with painters and lithographers from Bordeaux. Vieillard tries some firing tests and, in 1851, he files a patent. In 1852, Napoleon III, passing through Bordeaux, visited the Manufacture, which employed 800 workers, and handed the Legion of Honor to Jules Vieillard. The latter then proposed his thoughts about the Trade Treaty which was to be made between England and France. In 1854, Jules Vieillard received the gold medal at the Philomathic Society Exhibition and in 1855 the first class medal at the Universal Exhibition of Paris.
Vieillard will gradually break away from the English inspiration and create very colorful new models with floral or oriental motifs. He will invent multiple charming models for table services, lamps, cups, clocks, candlesticks, holy water fonts, vases, flasks, salt shakers, flares or crucifixes. Wonderful collection of extreme finesse and great originality.
In 1859, the report of the 10th Philomathic Society Exhibition in Bordeaux mentions that "Jules Vieillard is at the head of one of the most beautiful establishments that France can oppose to the English manufactures". In 1866, the factory, which includes a new activity as glasswork, employs more than 1000 people, and is one of the largest in France. Jules Vieillard dies on September 17, 1868. His two sons Albert and Charles will first assume the heritage with dignity. The Manufacture will exceed 1400 workers and increase its notoriety with the exterior decoration of monuments and fountains with architectural ceramics. In 1882, the Bordeaux Trade Chamber, in order to encourage the Bordeaux industry, commissioned the earthenware factory to produce a 120-piece cutlery set with the Bordeaux coat of arms, a magnificent set which is still used today. A Commission, including MM. Daniel Guestier, Brunet and Paul Duvergier, the latter later replaced by Mr. Balaresque was appointed to establish the composition of the set. The set cost 10,000 Francs.
Following a trial between the Vieillard brothers and the Italian artist Amédée de Caranza who was working for them, the departure of the latter will coincide with the signing of a very harmful trade treaty. The economic and social situation will deteriorate, strikes take place and a hundred workers are dismissed. After the deaths of the Vieillard brothers in 1893 and 1895, the Manufacture entered a consortium which quickly disappeared for lack of a true leader. On August 20, 1895 there is no more pottery in Bordeaux. David Johnston and Jules Vieillard and son, are among the important names in Bordeaux pottery, collectors of which are always looking for rare pieces.