Demeuldre-Coché Porcelain Hand Painted Cup & Saucer. Green cup with gilt accents on bands and handle, with hand-painted floral bouquet on side. Matching saucer. Marked on base "DC Bruxelles."

Condition: Good. 

Cup Size: 4 3/4 x 4 x 5 1/4 in. 

Saucer Size: 6 3/4 x 1 in. 

#2541 . 

The origins of the Demeuldre-Coché porcelain manufactory in Brussels, Belgium started in 1815, with a tiny studio of three men creating polychrome decorations on Belgian porcelain. In 1824 Charles Christophe Windisch, a master porcelain maker originally from Lorraine, moved to Brussels at the invitation of Frédéric Théodore Faber, a decorator who had taken over the small company. By combining their respective talents, Windisch and Faber did much to enhance the reputation of Brussels porcelain, which was considered inferior to most other European works at the time. However, the relationship soured and turned ugly, and Windisch joined businessman Jean-Jacques Coché to set up his own porcelain factory almost directly opposite Faber in Chaussée de Wavre. When Windisch died in 1842, porcelain maker Michel Antoine Caillet Pouchelain took over the business, which then passed into the hands of Coché’s daughter and her husband in 1852. In 1874 the complex added a showroom overlooking Rue Georges Lorand, which became a major tourist destination. In 1901 Chantal Vermeren Coché transferred the factory to her niece’s husband Louis Demeuldre. Their son Henry Demeuldre-Coché modernized the business extensively in 1937, but production came to an end in 1953, with the company focusing only on hand-painted decorations on imported pieces until the 1970s. Although the factory itself was torn down, the showroom and original studio survived decades of being empty due to its eclectic and instantly recognizable style. Architect Maurice Bisschops had decorated the display windows on the ground floor and the first-floor windows with floral ceramic friezes crafted by Isidore de Rudder, and the architectural porcelain that had become the company’s main product covered most of the interior. Elegant fluted cast-iron columns with an openwork metal frame featuring floral motifs anchored the first floor, and when the building became the TALK C.E.C. art gallery in 1997 they retained most of the structure, while primarily focusing on the exhibition of urban and contemporary art.

Good.