The manufactory of hard-paste Limoges porcelain 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, 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. Anne-Robert-Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, often referred to as Turgot (10 May 1727 – 18 March 1781), was a French economist and statesman. ... Charles X, King of France Navarre Charles X, King of France and of Navarre (October 9, 1757 – November 6, 1836) was born at the Palace of Versailles. ... Louis XVI of France Louis XVI (23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was King of France and Navarre from 1774 until 1791, and then King of the French from 1791 to 1792. ... Location within France Limoges (Limòtges in Occitan) is a city and commune in France, the préfecture of the Haute-Vienne département, and the administrative capital of the Limousin région. ... Faience or faïence is the conventional name in English for fine tin-glazed earthenware on a delicate pale buff body. ... Kaolin Kaolinite (Aluminium Silicate Hydroxide) Kaolinite is a mineral with the chemical composition Al2Si2O5(OH)4. ... Petuntse (from 白墩子 in pinyin: bai2 dun1 zi0), also spelled petunse, also known as china stone, is a granite-derived feldspar. ... This article is concerned with the porcelain wares of China, from early times until the present day. ... A stone grinder for turning quartz, feldspar, kaolin and other stones into fine powder for making ceramic paste Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Manufacture nationale de Sèvres The Manufacture nationale de Sèvres is a porcelain factory located in Sèvres, France. ...

After the Revolution a number of private factories were established at Limoges, the chief of which was and remains Havilland. Limoges maintains the position it established in the nineteenth century as the premier manufacturing city of porcelain in France. The French Revolution (1789–1799) was a pivotal period in the history of French, European and Western civilization. ...

Limoges porcelain is a generic term for porcelain produced in Limoges rather than at a specific factory.

References

• M. Ernoud-Gandouet, La Céramique en Frasnce au XIXe siècle (Paris) 1969.
• Mary Frank Gaston, The Collector's Encyclopedia of Limoges.