Limoges marks

How to read it

The industry began with a find of china clay (kaolin) at Saint-Yrieix-la-Perche south of Limoges in 1768. The first porcelain factory opened in 1771 and was taken over by the royal factory at Sèvres in 1784. The European Route of Industrial Heritage counts 15 factories in 1827, more than 30 by 1850 and 135 kilns in 1907. French law has protected the name since 1 December 2017, when the INPI, France’s industrial property office, approved the geographical indication Porcelaine de Limoges, and in 2026 it became the first French craft and industrial product registered as a protected geographical indication at European level. An association, the Association pour l’Indication Géographique Porcelaine de Limoges, founded in 2014, manages the name.

Also searched as: limoges france, limoges marks, limoges marks by year, limoges porcelain mark.

What the rules say about the word Limoges

The specification approved in 2017 sets out who may stamp the word. The marks Porcelaine de Limoges and Limoges may go only on pieces made, or made and decorated, within the area. A piece made there but decorated elsewhere may not carry them, and nor may a piece made elsewhere and decorated there. The stamp has to sit with the maker’s name or marks, or the client’s mark, has to be permanent (fired on, engraved, sandblasted, printed or laser-marked), and may not be a removable label. Stamping is optional: a factory may leave the word off and use only its own mark. The rules date from 2017; marks on older porcelain were made before them.

The early factory marks

The first factory’s marks were initials. Frederick Litchfield’s guide of 1912 records G.R. et Cie, for the founder Grellet, as the earlier mark, and C.D. from about 1773 under an order of the king’s council. The sources differ on what happened next: Litchfield says the works were discontinued in 1788, while William Chaffers’s catalogue says François Alluaud was made director of the royal manufactory in 1788 and had it in full activity again by 1797.

Many makers, one place name

Chaffers lists some of the 19th-century makers: Alluaud, Tharaud from about 1827, Nenert & Ruault, Michel & Valin, Demartial & Talandier, P. Guerry and R. Delinières, and Haviland & Co. Litchfield singles out Haviland, the firm of the New York merchant David Haviland, whose marks have their own page: Haviland marks.