Antique French Art Pottery teacups by the company Sarreguemines, dated approx. 1895-1897

Antique French Art Pottery teacups by the company Sarreguemines, dated approx. 1895-1897
I have here a lovely set of Antique French Art Pottery teacups by the company Sarreguemines, made in approximately 1895-1897 using the French Majolica technique. They feature a pattern from the renowned British company Minton in a Famille Rose Chinoiserie style.
Made of extremely fine earthenware material, this is a unique specialty of a company known for producing fine stoneware, and using unusual mixtures of clay. While most earthenware is thicker and heavier than porcelain or fine china, this particular type uses a special clay mixture that allowed them to produce a delicate & light-weight ceramic that is very similar to porcelain or fine china in look and feel. It’s actually rather see-through when held up to the light, with a very smooth surface, and has a creamy undertone to the white surface. However the earthenware composition makes it more durable than either of the other materials - and is both cheaper to use and easier to work with. The cup itself is formed by slip mold, with a separate piece cast for the handle, and the two pieces then molded together before firing. The saucers are also produced by a mold form.
The artwork on these cups is done mostly by hand - while some of the outlines and pattern pieces such as the designs on the rim would have been transferred from an engraved plate, it would have been done carefully by hand with small plates that would have to be carefully aligned for each placement to achieve small parts of the design that make up the whole. You’ll see that this can cause very small variations to the pattern, as well as places where the lines don’t quite meet correctly or overlap. After the outlines were transferred, the pieces were carefully hand painted with the main and additional detailing, the colorings, and final glazing. This an incredibly labor intensive and delicate process, that would have taken great amounts of concentration and patience.
This particular maker's mark was placed on Sarreguemines pieces made between 1860-1910, and the particular style model itself can be traced to the 1890’s, most likely 1895-7. The maker’s mark is a stamp mark, placed here at the back with the pattern and piece numbers in handwriting. And as you can see from the markings, I actually happen to have three separate variations of the pattern here for the cups, and two separate variations on the saucers. When looking closely at the pieces you can see some of the very small differences between them, such as the different colored florals to the handles, sligh shading variations overall, and even small changes to size for parts of the designs. With the more expensive dye colors used in its production, it was considered one of the higher end lines produced at the time. This pattern is considered extremely rare, as the design was produced only for a few years, and in limited quantities. It made it just so much more exciting to be able to find so many of these matching pieces and in such good condition!
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