{{refimprove, date=February 2012 Blason Cire Trudon

Cire Trudon is a

luxury Luxury may refer to: *Luxury goods, an economic good or service for which demand increases more than proportionally as income rises *Luxury tax, a tax on products not considered essential, such as speedboats or diamonds. **Luxury tax (sports), a ...

French candlemaker and fragrance brand. The headquarters are located at 78

rue de Seine The Rue de Seine () is a street in the 6th arrondissement of Paris. It is one of the most sought after streets in Paris due to its history and very close proximity to the Louvre and other famous Parisian landmarks. The Rue de Seine and surroundi ...

in the

6th arrondissement of Paris The 6th arrondissement of Paris (''VIe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 Arrondissements of Paris, arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, it is referred to as ''le sixième''. The arrondissement, called Luxembourg in ...

. Founded in 1643, it was the provider of the royal court of

Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...

, the Sun King, as well as most of the great churches of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Cire Trudon was the largest wax-producer in the French Kingdom during the 17th and 18th centuries. In 1762, in his encyclopaedia ''The art of the wax producer'', engineer Duhamel du Monceau, praises the skills of the Trudons and gives the manufacture as an example. Such a level of quality led to King

elevating Charles Trudon to the

French nobility The French nobility () was an Aristocracy, aristocratic social class in France from the France in the Middle Ages, Middle Ages until its abolition on 23 June 1790 during the French Revolution. From 1808 to 1815 during the First French Empire, ...

as Count Trudon des Ormes.

History

Claude Trudon

In 1643, a salesman named Claude Trudon arrived in Paris. He soon became the owner of a shop on Saint-Honoré, which provided its customers with wax,

candle A candle is an ignitable candle wick, wick embedded in wax, or another flammable solid substance such as tallow, that provides light, and in some cases, a Aroma compound, fragrance. A candle can also provide heat or a method of keeping time. ...

s for any domestic usage as well as church candles to the neighbouring

Saint Roch Roch (lived c. 1348 – 15/16 August 1376/79; traditionally c. 1295 – 16 August 1327), also called Rock in English, was a Majorcan Catholic confessor whose death is commemorated on 16 August and 9 September in Italy; he was especially invo ...

parish. The candles were homemade, developing and building on a specific manufacturing process. On the eve of the reign of

, M. Trudon established his first family-owned factory which was to bear his name and make the fortune of his heirs.

Jacques Trudon

Claude's son Jacques took over, becoming a grocer and wax producer and joined the

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...

royal court in 1687 as the apothecary and distiller of Queen Marie-Thérèse. At the time, wax was under high scrutiny. Carefully collected on the hive, it was bleached through a series of pure water baths that washed off all the impurities. Dried in the open air, the wax was whitened by sunlight. When burning, the flame lit the translucent edges generating the glowing aura of the candle.

Jérôme Trudon

In 1737, Jérôme Trudon, heir of the family, purchased one of the most famous wax producing factories of the times that belonged to Lord Pean de Saint Gilles. Pean de Saint Gilles was then the official wax provider to the King. Drawing from the family expertise, Hierosme devoted his skills to the development of a vast factory. Skilful and very demanding, he produced a wax of very high quality, collecting it from the best hives of the kingdom and trading directly with the producers. The wax was then treated with the utmost attention: it was washed with the purest water after being filtered with gypsum, guaranteeing the highest quality. The factory also imported the finest cotton to manufacture wicks whose combustion was clean and regular. The Trudon candles, so white and so perfect, could burn for hours without crackling; their flame neither trembled nor smoked. Maison Trudon furnished candles to the royal court, and cathedrals and churches over France. More than one hundred people worked at the time in a very large building – now registered in the French inventory of historical monuments – in the city of

Antony, Hauts-de-Seine Antony () is a Communes of France, commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France, from the Kilometre Zero, centre of Paris. Antony is a subprefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine Departments of France, department and the seat of the arrondissement o ...

. Its Latin motto and its blazon are engraved on a stone board of the factory building: a depiction of hives and bees bordered by the saying: ''Deo regique laborant'' ("they work for God and for the King" — they meaning the bees).

Cire Trudon today

Cire Trudon still keep records of recipe and tools of wax whitening: wrought iron, 17th century pans. The moulds used to form candles bearing the royal blazons still remain: "''cierge pascal pour la Chapelle du Roy à

, Bougies de nuit pour le Roy...''" ("Easter candle church for the Royal Chapel in Versailles, night candle for the King...") Cire Trudon supplied the

castle until the end of the monarchy. During his captivity,

Louis XVI Louis XVI (Louis-Auguste; ; 23 August 1754 – 21 January 1793) was the last king of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. The son of Louis, Dauphin of France (1729–1765), Louis, Dauphin of France (son and heir- ...

used the candles of his royal wax manufacturer. The blazon and the motto would be hidden under a layer of mortar to avoid the furies of the Revolution. It is still today the candle provider of many churches, including Saint-Roch in Paris, which has burned their candles since 1643. Trudon distributes its products in France and abroad.

Sources

* Trudon in the Encyclopedi
"Bibliothèque des sciences, et des beaux arts" (1754)
* Trudon in the boo
"Napoléon et son fils" (1929)

External links

Cire Trudon
* Trudon cited in: **

Honoré de Balzac Honoré de Balzac ( , more commonly ; ; born Honoré Balzac; 20 May 1799 – 18 August 1850) was a French novelist and playwright. The novel sequence ''La Comédie humaine'', which presents a panorama of post-Napoleonic French life, is ...

'
The Human Comedy
*
The Rise and Fall of Cesar Birotteau
Luxury brands Waxes 1643 establishments in France Manufacturing companies of France Companies established in 1643 Candles