Antique French Limoges Ormolu hand-mirror, signed Joseph Meissonnier 19th C

Joseph MEISSONNIER
was an artist born in 1864. The artist's works have gone up for sale at public auction 159 times, mostly in the Painting category. The oldest auction recorded on our site is Avignon, vu du plateau des Angles sold in 1990 at Desamais (Painting) and the most recent is Route blanche ensoleillée avec le clocher de Montfavet sold in 2023.
 

Limoges had strong antecedents in the production of decorative objects. The city was the most famous European centre of vitreous enamel production in the 12th century. 

Limoges had also been the site of a minor industry producing plain faience earthenwares since the 1730s.

The manufacturing of hard-paste porcelain at Limoges was established by Turgot in 1771 following the discovery of local supplies of kaolin and a material similar to petuntse in the economically distressed area at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, near Limoges. The materials, which were quarried beginning in 1768, were used to produce hard-paste porcelain similar to Chinese porcelain.

The manufactory at Limoges was placed under the patronage of the comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI, and was later purchased by the King in 1784, apparently with the idea of producing hard-paste bodies for decoration at Sèvres, although this never happened.

After the French Revolution a number of private factories were established at Limoges, including Bernardaud and Haviland & Co.

Even today, Limoges maintains the position it established in the 19th century as the premier manufacturing city of porcelain in France.