Limoges Trinket Boxes Rochard Opera Case with Glasses

  

Limoges Trinket Box; Rochard Opera Case w/ Glasses. Please see photos for details. Ntique Opera Glasses case with Opera Glasses.

This wonderful box decorated with hand painted comedy/tragedy faces in the front, and with an attached metal carrying handle. There is a delicate pair of Opera Glasses in black and chrome inside the box. Skillfully painted with a great degree of details, and is it adorned with intricate metalwork and ornate clasps. Marked with Rochard Limoges Peint Main. No chips, cracks, or repairs.

Some light scratches or marks commensurate with age/use may be present. Limoges porcelain boxes were first created in the mid-18th century after Jacques Turgot, Finance Minister of King Louis XVI, gave a Royal edict to the city of Limoges, France the exclusive right to produce Royal. Limoges porcelain for the Kingdom of France. The first Limoges trinket boxes were long narrow containers that were created for expensive needles.

From here, other shapes of Limoges porcelain boxes evolved. The earliest were those that held thimbles and embroidery scissors and then round flat Limoges boxes were formed and used as powder boxes, and/or snuff boxes. Under Louis XIV these small boxes were used to hold a lock of lady's hair or small poem. The creation of the Limoges Porcelain box is an arduous and time intensive process of creating a master mold, detail painting by hand of color and design, performing multiple firings and glazing upon the porcelain mold, and a final touch of a metal hinge for opening and closing.

The painting of the Limoges porcelain in the Limoges box industry are accomplished by small handed French artisans, as experts at the fine brush strokes required for such detailed work. After painting, there are multiple firings.

The final firing at a temperature of 1400C is unique to Limoges, giving them a very fine pure and strong white finish. The final touch to a Limoges box is the metal hinged mountings that are meticulously fitted to the finished box. The entire work process is made by hand, so small variations are the norm, thus making each piece really unique. Each model is often made in very limited numbers, & signed by the artists or the atelier.