Style Other / Ref.12312

Jules Loebnitz (1836-1895) - Earthenware plates with floral decoration

Polychrome earthenware plates with flowerpot decoration signed Jules Loebnitz, in a walnut frame.

The Pichenot-Loebnitz factory was founded by Jean-Baptiste Pichenot in 1833. In 1841, Mr. Pichenot had started the manufacture of frostproof earthenware panels for fireplace interiors and various coverings, successfully presented at the 1844 exhibition. This process modified the composition of the paste and not that of the glaze in order to solve the problem of "tressaillage" or "gerçage" of the glaze. Breaking with the traditional manufacture of ordinary white earthenware stoves, the Pichenot-Loebnitz factory was one of the first to enter into the production of architectural decorative earthenware, with in 1849, earthenware painted by Devers to decorate the church of Saint-Leu-Taverny. In 1857, Jules Loebnitz succeeded him as director of the factory. The products of the Loebnitz factory intended for architectural decoration were mainly, on the one hand, inlaid stoneware or glazed terracotta paving tiles in the neo-Medieval style (especially for the restoration of the Loire castles), and on the other hand, stove tiles and decorative plaques with flat, incised or relief polychrome enamel decoration for interior or exterior wall cladding, in the eclectic style, often of Renaissance inspiration.
From 1870 onwards, Jules Loebnitz oriented his production towards architectural decoration. The orders multiplied and Loebnitz, assisted by his son Jules-Alphonse since 1880, delivered, among other things, the sets for the Champ de Mars and Le Havre stations, the Monte-Carlo theatre and the tiles for the dome of the Joan of Arc monument in Rouen. Jules Loebnitz continued to triumph at the many industrial and decorative exhibitions of the time. The company will be further distinguished by Jules-Alphonse, now successor, especially at the 1900 exhibition where he presented a fountain surrounded by an aedicula on the outside. This fountain was the result of a collaboration between Jules-Alphonse Loebnitz and Paul Sédille. Jules Paul Loebnitz died in Paris in 1895. The crisis of 1929, severe competition and the industrialisation of ceramics forced the factory, like many others, to close its doors in 1935. Its collections were then transferred to the Musée national de la céramique de Sèvres and to the new ceramics section of the École pratique de Beauvais.