Choisy-le-Roi - Hippolyte Boulenger - Milk jug - Earthenware

Excellent and rare majolica earthenware jug (barbotine) from the Choisy-le-Roi manufactory, under the direction of Hippolyte Boulenger, circa 1880. Piece in a coffee or tea service form.

This ewer fits into the great orientalist and chinoiserie vogue of the Second Empire and the late nineteenth century. Its geometric and architectural shape is very original: flared base of square-section, long neck with molded facets in relief of geometric friezes and motifs inspired by Asia (greco-spirals, diamonds, cartouches).

The glazed covering offers a beautiful nuanced palette: glossy olive green, touches of caramel brown and ochre-yellow reflections that highlight the delicacy of the reliefs. The handle, fine and elegant, is worked with stylized volutes.

Manufacture: Choisy-le-Roi (HB & Cie)
Era: around 1880, 19th century
Style: chinoiserie, orientalism, period barbotine
Colors: olive green, brown, caramel, ochre
Dimensions: height 17 cm, width 12.5 cm, depth 12 cm

Condition: Very good overall. Small chip on the edge of the base (see close-up photo). No apparent restoration.

A bit of history: the Choisy-le-Roi manufactory and Hippolyte Boulenger

The Choisy-le-Roi porcelain works (Val-de-Marne) were founded at the beginning of the 19th century, in the Seine valley near Paris. It gained prominence under the direction of Hippolyte Boulenger, an industrial already at the head of the large porcelain works of Creil and Montereau, who made it a major French fine pottery establishment. Its productions bore the mark "HB & Cie", sometimes accompanied by "Choisy-le-Roi".

The manufacture is renowned for its wide variety: tableware, decorative pieces, wall tiles and architectural ceramic. In the last third of the 19th century, it stood out in barbotine and majolica, with colored glazes and molded relief decorations. It then followed the vogue of japonisme and the Chinese taste, highly valued under the Second Empire and at the start of the Third Republic.

This ewer, with its friezes of grecques, its pronounced relief and its glazes green, ochre and brown that flow over the moldings, is a fine example of this production.

#madeinfrance