The manufacture of porcelain in France attracted the interest of Madame De Pompadour, mistress of Louis XV. Her influence over Louis resulted in The Royal Factory of Sevres, owned by Louis XV. (The name Sevres is world famous for the finest in porcelain manufacture even today and examples of it can be seen in museum collections the world over.) Louis' ownership insured the success of the factory because Louis and Madame De Pompadour did much of the selling themselves. To say that it was difficult for the nobility of France to refuse to buy porcelain from Louis' factory is an understatement. One suspects it was life threatening at worst and at the least would result in banishment from court. It appears that Louis and Madame P. applied just a bit of pressure to the members of the court in order to insure the success of the factory. (High pressure selling turns out to have been a "French Period Piece". We didn't invent it after all.) In any case, Sevres originated the manufacture of small items which included what we now know as "Limoges Boxes". (Another small item produced at Sevres was false teeth.)

Originally used as snuff boxes, bonbonnieres, scent flacons, cane heads and etuis, (small carrying cases), in recent years Limoges boxes have come into vogue as charming, decorative and, sometimes, useful collectibles. Today there are more than 36 ateliers, (studios) that design and make these boxes ranging from one end of the quality spectrum to the other. They are all permitted to mark their boxes "Limoges" because they all are made in the city of Limoges and all are made with Limoges kaolin. However, that does not make the boxes equal. Just as the red wines of Burgundy are called Burgundy, no matter the quality of the wine, so all porcelain boxes made in Limoges may be called Limoges boxes no matter the quality of the box.

The boxes are always imaginatively designed, each of the better factories vying for the best boxes of the year with the lesser factories following along doing cheaper and cheaper copies of the previous boxes. Today, on the Internet, there is a company calling their product Lemoge, copying the boxes and selling them for five dollars. It doesn't take much knowledge to know that they are not Limoges boxes no matter what they are called. True Limoges boxes are made by highly skilled artists who are trained for years before their work is considered exact enough for production. From the making of the mold, the painting of each individual box, the designing of the metal fittings and then fitting them to each box, from beginning to end, all of this is done by highly skilled artisans.

The boxes are all miniature, some as small as 1 inch by 1/2 inch though most are between 2 and three inches in size. Many are numbered limited editions and this is indicated on the base of the box, usually with the artists signature or initials. When they are numbered, the number 1 is the last box made. In the best factories the molds generally produce perhaps 300-400 boxes before they are discarded. If the edition is limited to a 1000, for example, that means more than 1 mold was used. In any case, there are few enough of any one style box made, considering world wide distribution, that in a sense they are all limited editions.

If there are any specific questions you have, you may certainly call us and if we don't have the answer we surely know sources for obtaining it. We like nothing better than chatting with our customers so feel free to call us.

To find out more about ordering, Click Here