Archivist’s Journal: Entry No. 3
Wednesday, April 7, 2024
Hypothesis: A Workers’ Plot at the Faience Factory
The Racle couple’s faience factory was very famous for its marble-clay trompe-l’œil pieces. The couple received numerous commissions from all over France, including from Versailles.
According to my research, Léonard sought to increase the production pace of hand-painted tableware, and therefore introduced stencils into his faience factory in order to speed up the decoration process.
This decision caused a genuine revolt among the workers, who strongly disliked the idea of being replaced and sidelined in their own craft. As a result, they created posters and placards to protest and express their discontent.
Here is what is written on the ones I found:
August 1789
“Racle has absolutely no right to call our craftsmanship into question. Forcing stencils upon us is replacing us! All together to protect the quality of our work!”