Vintage Limoges Brass Hinged Cobalt Blue Porcelain Box with 22k Gold Leaf Accents. Oval shaped, with a gilded "Scène galante" courting couple scene on the front and a floral decoration on the back, along with three small leaf motifs on each side. Repeating vine pattern in the same gilding all the way around lid, with four of the small leaf motifs on the very top. Same rich blue color inside as out. Marked on the underside suggests this piece is from the early to mid 20th Century. 

Size: 3 x 4 1/2 x 2 in. 

The term “Limoges Porcelain” refers to hard-paste porcelain produced by factories in and around the city of Limoges, France, beginning in the late 18th Century, by any manufacturer. The industry was established by economist Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune in 1771 following the discovery of local supplies of kaolin and a material similar to petuntse in the economically distressed area at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche, and Limoges quickly became known for producing goods extremely similar to Chinese porcelain. This led to a manufactory at Limoges coming under the patronage of the comte d’Artois, brother of Louis XVI, and was later purchased by the King in 1784, although the French Revolution diminished production in all workshops. After the Revolution multiple private factories were established at Limoges, including Bernardaud, Haviland & Co. and Royal Limoges, and by about 1830 Limoges had replaced Paris as the main center for porcelain due to their proximity to the most ideal sources of clay, although the state-owned Sèvres porcelain near Paris remained dominant in the market for a few decades more. Limoges remains the primary hub for all porcelain production in France to this day, producing more than 50% of the porcelain in the country annually. 

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