Quimper

Jean-Baptiste Bousquet, master pipe maker (producer of pipes and pottery), moves from the South of France to Locmaria at the end of 1699.
In 1705 his son Charles, who will succeed him, joins him. In 1707 the other son, Pierre, who is a master pottery maker in Marseille, follows. In 1708, after his father has died, he establishes the first pottery of the village.

Pierre produces mainly religious and decorative objects: madonnas, busts, vases, barrels and most of all, dishes. Later on he starts producing all sorts of crockery.

The objects are transported by boat from Mont-Saint-Michel to Bordeaux, where the clay is extracted (Fronsac). Other objects are transported to the colonies from Lorient. In the region the products are sold by pedlars.
Pierre and Charles start working together and produce pipes and pottery, until Charles dies of the plague he got during a visit at the South of France.

Pierre Bellevaux, son of a merchant from Nevers, learns the trade of pottery decorator from his uncle Edme Serrurier, who lives in Rouen. Bellevaux becomes a pottery merchant and during one of his trips he meets one of Pierre Bousquet’s daughters, to whom he marries in 1731.
He works as a manager for his father-in-law and introduces colours normally used for decorating Rouen pottery, amongst which Armenian bole (brownish red).

Quimper dish.

In 1740 his wife dies and in 1743 Pierre Bellevaux dies. His two children are raised by Pierre Bousquet.
In 1749 the eldest daughter (15 years old) marries Pierre Clément Caussy, son of a pottery maker from Rouen. Caussy had been working for Bousquet since 1747.

Caussy becomes a widower in 1759 and has to buy the factory from his children. In 1770 the company employs 60 people. In 1771 Caussy starts working together with his daughter and son-in-law, Antoine De la Hubaudière. Caussy dies in 1782 and the company stays property of the De la Hubaudière family until WWI.

In 1778 one of the employees, François Eloury, starts a pottery which is transformed to an earthenware factory in 1788: the future company Porquier(P) and Porquier-Beau (PB).

Another employee, Guillaume Dumain, starts a gres company in Locmaria, after his attempt to set up a company in Quimper fails. His son, and later on his son-in-law Jean-Baptiste Tanquerey, continue his work by installing ovens in the middle of the 19th century. The company is later managed by their successor Jules Henriot (HR).

The Revolution ended the production of artistic earthenware and the factories aim their production at gres, brown and brownish red earthenware, which enables them to overcome this difficult period. As soon as it is fashionable again, the factories start producing earthenware using ‘grand feu’ again, especially after the war of 1870.

Renewed appreciation of old objects, books on Nevers and Rouen earthenware, the interest of the romantics, the construction of railroads, the arrival of tourists in Quimper and the appearance of ‘Le Petit Breton’ contributed to the popularity of earthenware.