Large pair of vases, Valentine’s porcelain

Rare pair of large vases with deep cobalt bleu ground, colourfull floral decorations with highlights of gold. Very decorative handles. Beautiful Valentine porcelain attributed to the talented Fouque-Arnoux workshop, circa 1860. Great condition, some gilt losses on the back.

Size: H 41cm x W 21cm – diameter of 11 cm (  H 16 in x W 8.27 in with a diameter of 4.30 in)

Lit: The Valentine factory is a porcelain manufactory created in the early nineteenth century, following the discovery of kaolin in the Pyrenees area, in Valentine, near Saint-Gaudens in Haute-Garonne. Driven by political troubles, former potters of Moustiers-Sainte-Marie founded a factory in Toulouse, at the dawn of the nineteenth century. From 1820, the pottery “Fouque et Arnoux,” had 70 workers and a second factory in Valentine, where the entire activity will gather in 1835. Valentine porcelains are hard paste, pure white, with very bright glaze. The most beautiful pieces are colored with cobalt blue and chrome green embedded in the mass. The decorations are often enriched with floral bouquets and golden nets painted on the glaze. These porcelains, of a very high technical level with their precise shaping and their delightful flowery reserves, obtained the greatest prizes at the International Exhibition of Paris of 1837.