Food warmer, tin-glazed earthenware, painted in colours, of bombé form, with lion mask handles, Niderviller pottery and porcelain factory, France, about 1775-1785

Food warmer, tin-glazed earthenware, painted in enamel colours, of bombé form, with lion mask handles, the body painted with landscape vignettes in orange-red and the other components with scattered insects

Bequeathed by Stuart G. Davis

Acquisition type: Bequest

Information summarised from Faïences Françaises exhibition catalogue (see below)
Niderviller is situated near to Sarrebourg in Lorraine, now in eastern France. Potteries are known to have operated there from the very early years of the 18th century. In 1748 the 'Seigneurie' of Niderviller was bought by Jean-Louis Beyerlé, Director of the Royal Mint at Strasbourg and the faïence manufactory built by him was completed in about 1754 or 1755. The location had the advantages of a ready supply of clay and wood. At the same period Paul Hannong was successfully producing porcelain and faïence in Strasbourg at his factory. However, after Hannong departed to work at Frankenthal, the Niderviller establishment profited from the arrival of disaffected workers from Strasbourg, notably the Anstett brothers who arrived in 1754 and 1757 respectively. While the factory's early production faithfully copies the style of Strasbourg faïence, Niderviller soon developed its own independent decoration and modelling styles under the guidance of François-Michel Anstett, the younger of the two brothers. The elder one, François-Antoine, became Director of the factory on his arrival and developed the production of hard-paste porcelain around 1760-65. However, the royal privilege of Sèvres prevented the real development of this side of the production, especially after the area lost the protection of the Duke of Lorraine, Stanislas Leszczinski, on his death in 1766. In December 1770 Beyerlé sold the factory to Adam Philippe de Custine, maïtre de camp of the Régiment de Dragons.
The new proprietor took advantage of the fact that the royal privilege of Sèvres was no longer so strictly enforced and re-started the production of hard-paste porcelain. This took on an increasing importance, however faïence production was never abandoned and continued alongside porcelain production. François-Antoine Anstett who had directed the manufactory since his arrival in 1754, left in 1778 to establish a pipe clay factory in Hagenau. He was replaced by François Lanfrey, also a skilled chemist from Strasbourg, who assumed the direction of the factory until 1793 when Custine, by then a Commander of the Army of the Rhine, was guillotined.

According to the catalogue note for the plate, no. 235 which has very similar landscape decoration to this veilleuse, the decoration is characteristic of the Custine period (ie after 1770-1773): the landscapes are 'préromantiques' with relatively simple compositions as well as on the borders, realistic insects used to hide faults in the glaze or potting. This style contrasts with the Beyerlé period (prior to 1770-1773) when Watteau-style scenes and ruines à l'antique predominated with large somewhat naive butterflies in the borders.

Illustrated in A. Lane, French Faïence, 1948, pl. 78A, where dated to the Custine period, 1754-70; for a plate with comparable decoration, dated to c. 1775-85, see Galeries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, exhibition catalogue, 'Faïences Françaies, XVIe-XVIIIe siècles', 1980, cat. 235.

This food warmer or 'veilleuse' is an unusual device that derives its name from the French for a night vigil. It was used to keep a drink or portion of semi-liquid food warm at night-time, initially at the bedside of infants or the ill or disabled people, but from the late eighteenth century for more general use. In the days before electric timers, it was the nearest thing to a combined 'teasmade' and nightlight.

It consists of a hollow pedestal with pierced vents surmounted by either a covered food bowl or a small teapot. The heat source is oil burned by means of a floating wick, located in a tiny bowl in the bottom of the pedestal. Veilleuses were made in tin-glazed earthenware, creamware, stoneware, porcelain and bone china. They were chiefly made between 1750 and about 1860.

This veilleuse was made in faïence (the French term for tin-glazed earthenware) at the Niderviller manufactory in Lorraine, a region now in eastern France. Pottery had been made on a small scale at Niderviller since at least the early years of the eighteenth century as the area abounded in clay and wood for fuelling pottery kilns. However, a manufactory was set up in 1754 Jean-Louis Beyerlé, the local 'lord of the manor'. Production was initially very much influenced by the nearby porcelain and faïence manufactory of Paul Hannong at Strasbourg, however Beyerlé employed a talented artist, François-Michel Anstett (trained at Strasbourg) who developed more independent styles of decoration there. In 1770 Beyerlé sold the factory to Adam Philippe de Custine. Porcelain production assumed a greater importance from this time as the royal privilège which had prevented anyone other than the French king's own manufactory at Sèvres from making porcelain, was no longer enforced to the same degree. Faïence production continued at Niderviller however, although the decoration, as on this item, became rather more simplified.

C.258 to B-1951