The Chantilly porcelain

The Duc Henri de Bourbon, Prince de Condé, was a big collector of porcelains originating from the Far-East, China and Japan. He asked Cicaire Cirou, an experienced master, to copy Japanese porcelains.

In 1730 a factory was set up in what was the Marshes path (now rue de la Machine).In 1735 Cicaire Cirou received a 20 year Royal Grant to manufacture porcelain. Cicaire Cirou created a "soft paste" and interpreted with grand art the Far-Eastern scenes from the Prince de Condé's collections.
In 1740 after the Prince de Condé's death the French style appears: Régence, Louis XV, Louis XVI, and the monochrome blue "carnation" design was also created at the time.
The workers divulging their secrets and the French revolution brought about the disappearance of the first manufacture and with it the soft paste secret. The "hard paste" (with kaolin) appeared. The porcelain manufacture ceased in 1870.


It is only in 1945 with a renewed growth that the Chantilly factory started anew. Slowly, two centuries of tradition are brought back due mainly to Condé Museum’s private collections and the personal efforts of a handful of willing men wanting to continue the Chantilly tradition. The former decors reappear and the various objects continue to be the messengers of French taste across the world.

You can visit the shop in town and the different Condé Museum collections in the Château.