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~ Enduring Appreciation Created by the Haviland Dynasty

David Haviland moved to France from America in 1841 to build a factory using the natural white clay found in Limoges, France called kaolin. David Haviland's immediate difference from other china makers,  creating his own art  department and his designs were created to please the American taste. Haviland did not sell blanks to be decorated by Parisian artists. This caused picketing and the artists couldn't travel outside at night. 

Haviland appreciated the Impressionist movement and the floral decoration was influenced by the the famous impressionistic painters. Haviland began to be fully appreciated by the french and the world. Theodore Haviland, David's son, found that artistic variety only increased the demand for the increasingly famous china.

Eventually David Haviland's sons had different artistic ideas  and Haviland China became Theodore Haviland China & Charles Edward Haviland became Haviland & Co. The family china business did not leave the Haviland descendants until Jean Haviland started Johann Haviland and was purchased by the Rosenthal Group. 

The Haviland factories produced over 30,000 art patterns.

The Haviland Dynasty encouraged variety it sold, it reflected originality and emphasized the wonderful art, botanicals and gold work. In 1870's, lithographic presses were invented and the production of china increased 4 times. Some people call this a tranfer process, I would say this is having an art pattern that is then hand painted. Antique Staffordshire (highly beautiful, collectible and expensive) is a transfer process, but doesn't see the hand painting to fill it botanicals or foliage, the placement of the pattern doesn't change.

 The Haviland Dynasty created a name easily recognized out of the Limoges china era. David Haviland is considered partly responsible for the turning point of the Limoges porcelain industry occurring in the mid to late 1800s. He opened his own decorating studio where artists decorated china. He made the decorating workshops part of his factory. The basic difference between Haviland porcelain and the porcelain made by other Limoges companies are not in the quality of the porcelain, but in the types of articles manufactured and the type of decorating employed. These pieces were most often vividly decorated, and frequently hand - painted, with floral, fruit, and figural scenic themes. Pieces were often elaborately fashioned and embellished with gold. She explains that the more elaborate pieces with elaborate gold work are painted by hand. ~ From the Pages 13 & 14 Collector's Encyclopedia of Limoges Porcelain. Third Edition. Mary Frank Gaston (Copyrighted in 2000).

 One of the Haviland books records Haviland employing 1200 artists and they could produce 6 plates a day. Haviland encouraged artistic freedom and creativity. The variations included: placement of the pattern on the plate, the color of the outline, the many colors used on the flower, the shape of the piece, the embossing of the piece, the use of the flower (flowers types were sometimes substituted) and the shape of the gold or lack of gold work. On page 33 of Nora Travis' book "The Age of Elegance", she explains factories today still rely on the human touch to produce the final product: gold trim & handles painted by hand with the artist's touch.

During World War I, the Haviland factories were bombed and burned. The records identifying Haviland were lost. Haviland rarely named the art patterns, but relied upon numbers. Arlene Schleiger identified well over 1,000 patterns, but many more are unidentified today.

Haviland collectors today look for the obvious and enduring beauty that each piece has. Haviland is collected to be beautiful and also to increase in value. Collectors collect by beauty, entire sets (homeowners insurance is friendlier to entire sets, with a receipt), rare mark and rare table accessories. Rare table accessories tend to increase in value faster in Haviland.

Email is a wonderful thing, I am happy to answer questions about items in my shop! Unfortunately, due to time constraints and because china must be held to be identified and appraised, I refer people to the larger china shops with a staff for identification and appraisal.

If this guide has been helpful, please take the time to vote. If you have questions, please email me! Thanks for looking!