Henriot Quimper

Quimper's faïence tradition began in 1690, when Jean-Baptiste Bousquet, a faiencier from Marseille, established the first pottery in the Locmaria district, bringing southern French tin-glaze techniques to Brittany under a royal manufacturing license granted by Louis XIV. Locmaria's clay deposits and access to a navigable river supported the trade for centuries. A third Quimper pottery, founded in 1778 by François-Marie Dumaine, passed in 1873 to Jules Henriot and became known as the Henriot factory; three houses -- Grande Maison HB, Porquier and Henriot -- historically competed in the town before later consolidating. The hand-painted decoration associated with the region centers on the 'petit Breton,' a small figure of a countryman in waistcoat and broad hat, set against scattered sprigs of carnation and daisy within a wavy border. Each piece is still hand-painted from start to finish by resident artists and marked Henriot Quimper to certify its authenticity.