Cruet, 5.5 inches tall. Black transfer with gilding. Maker is Keller & Guérin (K. & G.) of Lunéville, Lorraine, France.

Keller & Guérin was a French family pottery that made flow blue, mulberry, and polychrome faience pieces in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The history of the factory dates to 1728. In that year, Jacques Chambrette built his first factory in Lunéville near the River Muse in the province of Lorraine. Chambrette began exporting his factory’s products to Italy, Poland, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Since business was so successful and to escape the high taxation imposed by the king on wares from the Lorraine area, Chambrette in 1758 opened a second factory in Saint-Clement where he could escape the high tax rate. After the Lunéville factory went bankrupt, Sebastien Keller bought it in 1786 from the Chambrette family. Then, around 1832, the son of Sebastien Keller along with his brother-in-law, Guérin, became owners. This alignment of Keller and Guérin resulted in the mark K&G. For 137 years the Keller family owned the company.