Limoges Porcelain Boxes - Pretty Bunny Rabbit Collectables for Easter
Collecting Limoges porcelain boxes can be great fun
If you are a Limoges porcelain collector, a collector of porcelain rabbits or if you just love the Easter bunny, you'll always know what you would like as a special gift - yes, yet another beautiful little box in the form of the Easter bunny or with a fine easter porcelain rabbit inside.
Limoges is famous for its magnificent Limousin beef cattle and for its porcelain Industry. Know as 'The Red City' because the fires from the kilns which burned constantly would light up the night sky with red flames.
Today, there are still many factories and many shops selling the wonderfully fine, strong and translucent porcelain that has made the city of Limoges so prosperous in the past, and these fine easter porcelain boxes are just such fun that you're bound to fall in love with them.
The Easter bunny in a Limoges porcelain box
What is the Easter Bunny?
Easter was originally a pagan festival called 'eastre'; a celebration of spring, nature and fertility.
The rabbit, or hare, like eggs, is a pagan fertility symbol from antiquity, and a symbol of the goddess of fertility and of the rising fertility of the earth at the Vernal Equinox. These symbols were taken over by the Christian church where the egg became a symbol for the risen Christ.
The Easter Bunny, or Osterhase , was introduced to the United States by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 18th century. The Easter bunny is often depicted bearing symbols of spring, such as this willow, daffodils or snowdrops, and bearing gifts of eggs.
Collecting Limoges Porcelain Boxes
So many beautiful Limoges porcelain boxes have been produced, but the old ones are harder to find due to loss and breakage over the decades and centuries, making them very valuable and collectable items. The Limoges small boxes were originally used as snuff boxes, (Tabatiere in French) or as containers for sweets, (bonbonnieres) or scent. They also served as cane heads and small carrying cases, (etuis).
The most sought after pieces were produced in one of the Limoges factories between the late 1700s and about 1930; at one point, in the 1920s, there were up to 48 companies in the Limoges region producing porcelain marked Limoges.
If you're thinking about starting a collection, here are a few things to watch out for:
- Learn about all the different marks that you will find on pieces of Limoges porcelain. The earliest pieces of Limoges were done by royal commission and have a Fleur de Lys on them, these would be very rare pieces. You'll need a book to help you identify the marks.
- Make sure that what you are buying is the genuine article. Real Limoges will ding when it is flicked and the quality of the decoration should be good. There are many imitations.
- Some pieces were sold blank and exported to be painted by ladies at home in the 19th century so it is not always of the highest standard.
- Some pieces of Limoges porcelain have transfer instead of the finer hand painting. If you are going to be a collector you will need to educate yourself so that you know what you are looking for.
- Make sure it's in good condition.
- It might be a good idea to collect to a theme - Easter bunnies for example! But there are very many more ideas; Limoges porcelain is such a rich field.
Limoges Porcelain Collector
Limoges porcelain at our guest house in Limousin
I moved to Limousin in 2002, buying an old French farm and outbuildings not far from Limoges to set up Les Trois Chenes, (or The Three Oaks), painting holidays, a guest house and self-catering holiday cottage or gite. After what seems like years of building, we have finally achieved our goal and now I have leisure to look around me at all the finer things that this beautiful region has to offer. I'm turning my attention, not to keeping Limousin cattle, but to creating a collection of Limoges porcelain.
I began with the china for my bed and breakfast in Limousin - a beautiful set of white porcelain with a pattern of fruits in relief around the edge. So fine it is translucent. I have a few pieces that were left in the house and I am going to form my collection around those, but I'm going to try to find them in the marvelous vide greniers, (empty your attics), held in the area - a sort of cross between a car boot sale and an antiques fair. Why don't you treat yourself to a holiday in Limoges where you can discover Limoges Porcelain at first hand? Where to buy Limoges Porcelain in Limousin, France
Other Easter links from Les Trois Chenes
At Les Trois Chenes we have lots of children; children of friends and of our guests. We also have chickens and our own fresh eggs, so we do like to celebrate Easter. We organise Easter egg (and Easter bunny) hunts, we enjoy Easter crafts and Easter cooking and traditions and I'd like to share just a few of them with you:
Easter Egg Hunts - The Vital Clues for an Easter Game
Limoges Porcelain Decorative Eggs for Easter
How to organise an Easter Egg Hunt
Chocolate Childrens' Books for Easter
So many more beautiful Limoges porcelain objects
- Lampe Berger or Berger Lamps
Lampe Berger or Berger Lamps are charming collectables with a history and even more attractive when made from the famous Limoges porcelain. The Berger lamp today is prized as an object of beauty and curiosity as usful to freshen and pefume the air. A - White Plates of Limoges, Princess of Porcelain
The beautiful French city of Limoges in Limousin, South West France is famous for its porcelain production. You can still buy this lovely china through its factory shops in Limoges, Saint Junien, Aix-sur-Vienne and the many exclusive boutiques in Lim - Limoges Porcelain Decorative Eggs for Easter
Limoges porcelain decorative eggs are the perfect gift for easter. The link between Limoges, Fabergé and eggs goes back to the 19th century. The tradition started when Czar Alexander III commissioned the Russian jewellers to make an Easter Egg as a g - Best Limoges porcelain boxes
Beautiful decorative eggs at La Vie en Rose Porcelain factory in Saint Junien, S W France make the perfect gift. French Limoges porcelain boxes are very collectable and each is a veritable little gem. - Limoges porcelain lamps
Limoges porcelain lamps are very special. Beautiful lamps made from the famous Limoges porcelain. Some are traditional oil lamps, others hand painted lamps. Some of the most interesting use the translucent quality of Limoges porcelain to creat wonder - Where to buy Limoges Porcelain in Limousin, France
Buying Limoges porcelain in Limousin is fun. Explore this hidden and beautiful region, visit porcelain museums, see the china being made and even see the old kilns, but above all visiting Limousin is about choice and price. Why not take a porcelain v
Easter rabbit Limoges porcelain links
- Limoges Boutique
AUTHENTIC FRENCH 55% off LIMOGES BOXES Porcelain LIMOGE BOX figurines trinket boxes. Artoria Rochard France Collection. Porcelaine de limoges collectible gifts.
More cute Easter bunny boxes from Limoges Boutique
Click thumbnail to view full-sizeMusée National Adrien Dubouché
Why not have a Limoges Porcelain Holiday?
- Painting courses at Les Trois Chenes B&B, Limousin, France
We are conveniently situated for Porcelain factory visits. We offer Bed & breakfast and self-catering accommodation at Videix, Limousin France near the Dordogne and Charente. Between Limoges and Angouleme. Near Rochechouart and Saint Junien
Les Trois Chenes Bed and Breakfast and gite is conveniently situated for factory shop visits
The National Porcelain Museum is situated in Limoges, - Musée National Adrien Dubouché
© 2011 Les Trois Chenes