Pair of tobacco pots in Langeais earthenware decorated with bays 19th century

Pair of tobacco pots in Langeais earthenware decorated with bays 19th century (1862)
Creamy white background with platinum highlights
Cylindrical pots composed of a set of godrons imitating a tree trunk
Decoration covered with platinum of branches in relief and berries in the round, always in groups of 3
Ring-shaped grip
Creamy white background
Very good general condition
Slight wear of the plate and 2 missing berries
No mark but 1 number in platinum under the 1 and 1 number in hollow under the other
Inside each pot 3 points placed in equilateral triangle (discrete masonic presence)
Pieces coming from the collection of an enlightened amateur
h : 13 cm
d : 10 cm
History of the earthenware :
In 1839, aged 22, Charles de Boissimon settled in Langeais with his cousin, they founded a company of ceramic products and refractory bricks.
Presented, in 1841, at the Exhibition "of the products of industry and arts of Tours", they receive a silver medal, but it is with the making of decorated potteries that he will create his style. He participated in many international exhibitions and won numerous medals.
In 1850, he became the sole owner of the factory. The materials used at that time already offered great possibilities of colors obtained from metallic oxides such as chromium, cobalt, copper, tin, iron, manganese, lead, urethane, zinc... which allowed to obtain greens, blues, greys, yellows, shades of red, browns and ivory.
Charles began to offer his customers vases, cups and lamps decorated with grapes and vine shoots. Charles de Boissimon was also a winegrower and would like to be inspired by the nearby nature. The production was very diverse: ivy berries, currants, acorns, cherries...
Between 1850 and 1860 there will be a real explosion of techniques. Brongniart advised Charles to add kaolin to the Langeais clay to make it even more malleable. C. de Boissimon will then be able to give free rein to his imagination. We find vases, woven baskets...
In 1862, Charles de Boissimon filed a patent for "printing gold and platinum on vitrifiable materials". This material is still little known, he imports it from Peru and Chile.
This is the beginning of the period of Langeais with platinum decoration. This inalterable and stainless metal gives to the earthenware an incomparable brightness.
Charles de Boissimon dies in 1879. His son, a doctor, leaves the management of the factory to Paul Arthur Busson de Langeais. Little investment was made in the factory. In 1889, he dies in his turn. His widow will do everything to save the company but in vain.
The company was sold in 1909. The new owners try to revive the factory and make again artistic earthenware that they intend to foreign markets.
The war of 1914 broke out. The factory is devoted only to the production of refractories. At the end of the war, the tastes changed, the production of earthenware is definitively abandoned.
The Masonic Langeais:
The Langeais with Masonic decorations with the symbols of the great builders are rare but the abundance of the elements of vegetable decoration presented by group of 3 reveals a strong membership. The Langeais are for many triponctate, whether triads of ivy berries, acorns or other. There is a real composition evocative of the 3 Masonic points.
These 3 points are also found very discreetly affixed in the bottom of all the braided baskets as well as in the bottom of the tobacco pots. They are very discreetly presented as 3 uncovered points affixed in an equilateral triangle. This is done so subtly that one could believe in traces of beads but the perfect distance between the points suggests that this was done with a tripod provided for this purpose.
Many pieces also bear the 5-pointed star. Charles de Boissimon's membership in the Freemasons is not revealed but his work reflects a man of duty and progress. Several workers of the earthenware factory were members of the Lodge of Tours.
Langeais earthenware is the most discreet and subtle of Masonic ceramics.
The number 3:
Three was considered among all pagan nations as the main mystical number, because according to Aristotle, it contains in itself a beginning, a middle and an end.
In the Christian religion the number 3: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, was obviously sacred. Therefore, the incorporation of the number three in the stonecutter's ceremonies would have been an expression of their Christian faith
In Freemasonry there are 3 degrees: apprentice, journeyman and master. There are 3 principal officers in the Lodge: The Worshipful Master, the First Warden and the Second Warden.
There are 3 lit candles di

Ref: CDBQOPYRFO