Plate,
Germany,
Mettlach,
late 19th century.
Villeroy&Boch
model 3037 I
49 cm dia
In 1809, at the Benedictine Abbey in Mettlach, Jean Francis Boch opens the Boch - Buschmann company with his wife (Rosalie Buschmann). Already in 182, the factory first used ornamentation techniques that were innovative for the time, allowing it to make formally sophisticated products at affordable prices. Between 1836 and 1841, the Mettlach company merged with Nicolas Villeroy's company, and from then on the company took the name Villeroy&Boch. At the same time, August von Cohausen became the director of the factory. It was also at this time that the creators of Villeroy&Boch began to draw on designs taken from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. From 1878/79, a representation of an abbey appeared in the company's trademark. The golden days of the Mettlach factory were between 1880 and 1910, a period of increased production resulting in the greatest variety of forms. After the outbreak of World War I, difficult times for the company followed, and a fire that destroyed most of the infrastructure in 1921 meant that the factory never recovered. From 1925 until the early 1930s, Mettlach still produced some of the earlier models, but production was gradually extinguished.
