Girl Piggy in Bubble Bath ~ Limoges Trinket Box ~ Gerard Ribierre ~ Peint order main ~ France ~ Rare ~ Vintage

For your consideration an adorable, artfully decorated and rare Ms. Piggy in the Bubble Bath Limoges Trinket Box.

Made in France by Gerard Ribierre.

Hand painted. Colorfully decorated.

This is in excellent “Like New” condition with no chips or cracks!

The history of Limoges Boxes is fascinating — and so is the detailed process of how they are handmade one-by-one!

Limoges Boxes are ONLY made in France. Porcelain boxes made anywhere in the world outside Limoges, France cannot legally be called “Limoges” Boxes. This is similar to how “Champagne” only comes from the Champagne region of France. Sparkling white wine made anywhere in the world outside of the Champagne region is NOT “Champagne,” of course. Similarly, porcelain boxes made outside the area of Limoges, France are NOT “Limoges Boxes.”

Limoges porcelain boxes were first created in the mid-18th century after Jacques Turgot, Finance Minister of King Louis XVI, gave a Royal edict to the city of Limoges, France the exclusive right to produce Royal Limoges porcelain for the Kingdom of France. The first Limoges trinket boxes were long narrow containers that were created for expensive needles. From here, other shapes of limoges porcelain boxes evolved. The earliest were those that held thimbles and embroidery scissors and then round flat Limoges boxes were formed and used as powder boxes. Under Louis XVI these small boxes were also used to hold a lock of lady's hair or a small piece of paper with a romantic poem.

The creation of the Limoges Porcelain box is an arduous and time intensive process of creating a master mold, detail painting by hand of color and design, performing multiple firings and glazing upon the porcelain mold, and a final touch of a metal hinge for opening and closing. The painting of the Limoges porcelain in the Limoges box industry are accomplished by small handed French artisans, as experts at the fine brush strokes required for such detailed work.

“Peint Main” is French for “hand-painted.”

After painting, there are multiple firings. The final firing at a temperature of 1400 Celsius is unique to Limoges, giving them a very fine pure and strong white finish. The final touch to a Limoges box is the metal hinged mountings that are meticulously fitted to the finished box. The entire work order process is made by hand, so small variations are the norm, thus making each piece really unique. Each model is often made in very limited numbers, & signed by the artists or the “atelier,” which is the workshop, studio or manufacturer.

Please see beautiful photos.