188

This mark is on our art deco wash jug. We found this piece in a small country hotel that had been shut up for 40-50 years and was now being converted to a home. I am confident that this is the pattern or design number. It would have once been part of a set and the washbowl probably had the full factory mark on it. After many hours of research online I have found only one other jug like this worldwide, it had an accompanying soap dish and had the same design with the mark '188' on the bottom. The soap dish had an uncoloured underglazed mark 'H' on the bottom of it. When I enquired of an antiques colleague in France I was told the jug was probably manufactured by Sarreguimines, Moulin des Loup or some similar faience manufacturer of the time. After even more research I have concluded the most likely manufacturer was Mouins des Loups.  On investigation earthenware from Moulins des Loups of the 1930's often  had an underglaze, uncoloured letter mark, similar to the mark I observed on the soap dish. The company 'Moulin des Loups et Hamage' was formed in 1923 by the merger of  the factories of Orcines and Hamage.  Was the 'H' to signify that is was produced in the Hamage factory? Although I can not be sure I believe that this mark is from the Moulins Des Loups Et Hamage factory at Hamage owing to the marks and style of the jug and pattern. The Moulins des Loups et Hamage company did not close until the 1980s.