An Empire Sarguemines polished brown stoneware vase early 19th century

The Sarguemines factory
The Sarguemines pottery factory, based in Lorraine (France), was founded in 1778 by Joseph Fabry and continued its production until the end of the 19th century. It specialised in cream-coloured earthenware and stoneware, building its success on imitating English earthenware and stoneware. By 1867, it was said not only to be one of the largest French factories of industrial ceramics (employing over 2000 people), but also one of the most refined. The brilliantly glazed products of the factory including the present vase bear witness to this extraordinary degree of ceramic dexterity.

Francois-Paul Utzschneider (1771-1844) went into partnership with Joseph Fabry in 1792, producing ceramics at their factory at Sarguemines in the Moselle. Utzschneider was the creative force in the partnership and was variously referred to as 'le Wedgwood Français and le céramiste français d'importance le plus mésestime... ce grand génie de la céramique française'.
In 1809, the factory was awarded a Gold medal at the Produits de L'Industrie exhibition for their vases in the newly discovered composition of pulverised stone in imitation of porphyry, basalt, jasper and other precious stones. At the exhibition their products attracted the attention of Baron Vivant-Denon Directeur Général du Musée Napoléon who decided to employ the pair on an Imperial Commission. By August 1810, the project had evolved into an order for eight pairs of candélabres or torchères of two different designs, and twenty-two pairs of vases of four different designs, of which two pairs are in the Throne Room of Palazzo Reale in Naples. A further pair were recorded in 1925 as having been in the collection of the Grand Duke Nicolas Mikhailovich, grandson of Tsar Nicholas I.