Style Napoleon III / Ref.13784

Manufacture de Longwy - Vase with an enameled decoration of iris and insects on a Sèvres blue background, circa 1890

This very beautiful vase with a relief enameled decoration on a Sèvres blue background was made in the Longwy Manufacture circa 1890. It bears under the base the handwritten signature painted with gold as it is the cas for the pieces with the famous blue of the Sèvres Manufacture. These handwritten signature seem to appear circa 1875 until the end of the 19th century.
The Blue Sèvres technique was used in Longwy from 1885 and for approximately 10 years. A large part of the production is due to the artist Louis Ernie. This colour depicts a plain bright blue thanks to the high firing difficult to handle on the technical plan, especially as the enameled decoration needs a second baking with low fire and that it is often underlined with gold creating a small relief but requiring another baking, as it is the case on our vase.

The Longwy Manufacture was created in 1798 in an old convent on the East of France, to produce earthenwares as many already existed in Europe and in particular in this region of France like Lunéville, Sarreguemines or Saint-Clément. The famous enameled decors come to complete the earthenwares production from 1872 and will mark the begining of the gilded age of the Longwy Manufacture.