This company is often known simply as Gien Pottery, after its location in that city. It was established in about 1822 by Merlin Hall, the English founder of the factory of Creil & Montereau, which specialised in earthenwares decorated with English scenes to appeal to the English market. The pottery in Gien, on the other hand, specialised in traditional style French earthenwares with scenes and motifs taken from French historical sources (as on this plate), heraldic emblems and contemporary politics. In 1856 it came under the ownership of Geoffroy, Guérin & Cie and thereafter it exhibited at international exhibitions in Paris (1844, where it won an award) and 1867, in London (1862) and Vienna (1873). By the late 1880s it was being criticised for decorated surfaces imitating materials such as wood, and praised for the increasingly immense size of its wares - some vases reached 3 metres in height and 1.2 metres in diameter. This plate was purchased as an example of approved design for the students of the National Schools of Design, South Kensington.