Image
The Nyon Porcelain factory was founded in 1781 by Jacques Dortu and Ferdinand Muller in the small town of Nyon, located on the shore of lake Geneva or Lac Leman as it was known in Switzerland.
Jacques Dortu was born in France in 1749 and, very shortly after his birth, his family migrated to Berlin, Germany, due to religious unrest as Dortu's family was protestant. In 1764, at the age of 15, he started his 3 year apprenticeship as a china painter at the Royal Porcelain Factory in Berlin. It is quite probable that he also learnt all about the composition and the making of fine white porcelain here. At the conclusion of his apprenticeship in 1767 he went to Cassel, Germany, where he was registered as a china painter until 1768, and then spent another 2 years in St Petersburg, Russia. While he was in Russia, Dortu met another china painter named Muller.
Dortu came back to France, and went to Marseilles where he painted and also made some high quality white porcelain. He left Marseilles in 1777 for Mariberg, Sweden, where he reconnected with Muller and together they decided to found a porcelain factory in Nyon, Switzerland.
Nobody exactly knows why they chose the locality of Nyon as they had to import all the raw materials to produce and decorate the porcelain, and in those days it must not have been very easy. The kaolin required to make white porcelain had to come from the Limoges region in France, the mineral colours for decorating the porcelain were obtained first from Germany, and later from Basel, Switzerland, and as for the gold, it was obtained from melting gold coins acquired in Lausanne and Geneva.
Producing quality hand painted porcelain was the aim of the people behind the running of the Nyon Porcelain factory, and they supplied first class utility ware which adorned the tables of the well off in Switzerland and Russia, as well as the Queen of Naples, the Queen of Spain and Marie Antoinette of France. Unfortunately, the factory was closed after 30 years (1781 to 1813), but even in that short time of activity, what had been created and produced left a very big impact for the history and posterity of china painting in Italy, France, Spain and Russia, but especially in Switzerland where the traditional designs and techniques are still alive today.
When the factory closed its doors in 1813, some of the china painters went back to where they had come from to find work again, but many were Swiss citizens who had been taught and trained in the factory and they stayed and painted privately, teaching new artists the Nyon style. According to the archives of the factory, there were over 70 different kinds of flower designs, 17 different designs of garlands and many different combinations for borders and bouquets, all strictly coordinated and devised. There were also landscapes, human scenery, oriental designs and figurines.
Even today, the designs from the Nyon Porcelain Factory are very much admired and appreciated as they seem to be so perfect in their composition and so timeless