Holy Water Font, Stoup, French Porcelain by Henri Ardent & Co Limoges, Circa 1860, Rare Piece in Excellent Condition

Holy Water Font, Stoup, French Porcelain by Henri Ardent & Co Limoges, Circa 1860, Rare Piece in Excellent Condition

I was delighted to find this beautiful Holy Water Font at a recent antique fair in France. It is so unusual as pieces of this age are frequently studded with chips.

They started building my house at the time of the battle of Trafalgar and the same family had inhabited it up until the time I bought it and there were items hanging on beams in the loft and cave that had been there for hundreds of years, which is actually what sparked my interest in Etsy. I suspect that this lovely holy water font had a similar life as it is in such brilliant condition considering its age. There is a slight staining in the stoup itself as I suspect some one left something metal in the water. I understand that this will clean out but I leave that for its new owner to do.

Marked "HA & Cie" for Henri Ardant (1828-1883) and Company. Henri Ardant marked the history of Limoges porcelain and was the owner of the prestigious Manufacture du Comte d'Artois from 1854. Some of these works are exhibited and referenced at the Adrien Du Bouché National Porcelain Museum in Limoges.

The Ardant tradition was to produce "Porcelain d'art" with particular attention to "sculptures en bisquit." Talented & gifted sculptors & artists were employed by Ardant with their works entered into the Paris Expositions of the time.

Items from this company are very sought after and to have a Holy Water Font from them is very rare as they tended to specialise in lamps and figurines. Pieces by them have sold at auctions at Christies and Sotheby's.

This beautiful font measures 19.5 by 10 centimetres and it weighs 171 grams