Strasbourg Faience

Strasbourg faience or Strasbourg ware is a form of faience produced by the Strasbourg-Haguenau company in Strasbourg in the 18th century.

The company was founded by a Dutch ceramicist, Charles-Francois Hannong. Charles-Francois was born in Maastricht around 1669 and later married Anne Nikke, daughter of a German pipe-maker, in Cologne. In 1709 they moved to Strasbourg, where Charles-François set up a pipe-making factory. At first he concentrated on producing enamelled earthenware stoves. Around 1720 he was working with Henri Wackenfeld, perfecting these stoves and at the same time making experiments in porcelain, in which they attained a certain success, with great improvements being achieved by succeeding members of the Hannong family. Wackenfeld later left Strasbourg and Charles-Francois continued alone. By 1724, the faience was so successful that Charles-Francois opened a second factory in Haguenau. Eight years later he retired, leaving the family business to his sons, Paul-Antoine and Balthasar, who paid him an annual pension until his death in 1739.

The decoration improved in 1744, when Paul perfected the method of applying gilding. Ten years later his success prompted him to apply for a licence to manufacture this porcelain. However, the director of the royal factory, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres declined to issue a license, forcing him to close his works, which he transferred to Frankenthal in 1755, setting up the Frankenthal Porcelain Factory. When the French prohibition was relaxed in 1766, Paul's son Joseph resumed making porcelain at Strasbourg. He did not prosper, however, and in 1780 he fled to Germany because of debt. Production at the Strasbourg factory ceased, and the company went into bankruptcy.

Over six decades, three generations of Hannongs had cre