Postby oel » Thu Dec 11, 2014 10:28 am
Hi Erik,
Chinese export porcelain is often marked China and/or with Chinese characters but indeed also seen without marks. To me your porcelain tea caddy does not yell made in China and the French like to make their products at home(from wine & cheese to clothes & cars etc). Unmarked porcelain during the ages has been a puzzle to even experts, dealers and collectors.
Often the longer you look at it, either could bring you an answer, or more confusion, especially if designs and decorations are copied or made to a certain taste for the European or American markets.
There was a large group of European potters in the 19th century who often did not mark there porcelain output. In France, Paris was the home to several small porcelain factories and decorating shops producing porcelain in the style of the famous Sevres and Limoges and in the style of popular Chinese (export) porcelain or what ever came in vogue. Today these pieces produced or decorated by these smaller factories are called Paris or Old Pris Porcelain, named after their location.
These potteries located in Paris had to compete with the famous and well-established Royal Manufactory at Sevres, which enjoyed Royal patronage and financial support. They managed this by being quicker to adapt to new fashions in design and catering to the new and rising merchant class or the lesser nobility who wanted the status and look of Sevres porcelain, but at a cheaper price and perhaps a little lower quality. Most reference sources indicate that as much as 70 percent of Paris porcelain made went without any company marks at all or as yet have not been identified and cataloged, which makes identifying these pieces today to a definitive maker almost impossible. Another factor that makes identification a problem is many of the decorating studios in Paris used blanks, called “white wares” made in Limoges or even by Sevres, but generally not marked with their origins until the turn of the 19th-early 20th century.
Oel.
