French H B Quimper Faience Ceramic Candlesticks, a Pair

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A pair of French hand-painted Faience pottery candlesticks made by HB Quimper. Decorated in their Soleil Yellow pattern with a … Read more A pair of French hand-painted Faience pottery candlesticks made by HB Quimper. Decorated in their Soleil Yellow pattern with a floral edge. The candlesticks are each embellished with a Breton figure. HB Quimper France maker's mark underneath is faded but still visible, dating the piece to the 1980’s.

In 1690, potter Jean Baptiste Bousquet started manufacturing a hand-painted French faience known as Quimper Pottery (pronounced “cam-pair”) in the town of Quimper in Brittany, France. The area around Quimper known as Locmaria had an abundance of clay, a navigable river, and skilled labor making it an ideal place for Jean Baptiste Bousquet to build his kilns. The firm was known as HB Quimper.

Business was very good and in 1772, a rival firm Porquier was founded. In 1778, a third firm set up, known as HR or Henriot Quimper. All three workshops produced similar pottery featuring the areas Breton peasants and local florals.

Time went on and Quimper became known for its charming pottery. In 1906, Henriot bought out Porquier, and then in 1968, Henriot merged with HB leaving just one Faiencier in Quimper. In 1984, the company was sold to a US businessman, Paul Janssens who relaunched the company as HB Henriot, and then in 2011, the company was repurchased by Frenchman, Jean Pierre Le Goff, and renamed Henriot Quimper.

Henriot Quimper continues the legacy by producing Quimper pottery following traditional methods and with traditional designs. The superbly talented resident artists at Henriot still hand craft every piece of Quimper Pottery from start to finish. See less