Vieux Paris

Old Paris porcelain, or as the French say, Vieux Paris, refers not to a single Manufacturer, but to more than thirty porcelian sources, based with in the city of Paris, between the mid 1700's until around 1870, at the end of the Second Empire.The term was not actually used until the latter part of that period.

The various Paris Artisans, mostly situated in the northeast side of Paris,housed their skills in a hury or went out of business. At the outset, they had to compete with King Louis XV's own Royal Manufactory at Sevres, just 18 miles to the south-west of the city. Old Paris manufactures catered more quickly to changing styles and customs. By the turn of the nineteenth century,nearly all Old Paris porcelain was the hard paste variety.

Great amounts of Old Paris was produced for the American market. Often people taking the "grand tour", shipped many of these pieces back to America. Soon American merchants, were having crates brought in for sale, here in the stores, of Americas large cities.