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In 1657, Pierre de Becdelièvre, Sieur d’Hocqueville, had a large town house built using some of the stone from the former Château owned by Philippe Auguste and demolished between 1590 and 1610. The Duc de Saint-Simon stayed here in 1705 when he came to Rouen for his court proceedings against the Duc de Brissac. Set between a courtyard and garden, the Musée de la Céramique de Rouen has occupied the fine d’Hocqueville mansion since 1984. Extensively remodeled in the 18th century, the building now has Neo-classical interior.
History and Architecture

The Collections

17TH-18TH CENTURY

19TH-20TH CENTURY

With a collection of five thousand pieces, the museum exhibition begins with some of the finest examples of Rouen faience, from the 16th to the 18th centuries: tiles by Masséot Abaquesne, fine blue and white tableware, pieces with a pagoda design or the famous cornucopia pattern. The 18th century, a veritable Golden Age for Rouen faience, is rightly highlighted, with some quite exceptional pieces, such as the Celestial and Terrestrial spheres by Pierre Chapelle (1725) or the series of busts of the Seasons (1730). Fine ensembles of Nevers, Lille and Delft ware are also on display.
Two new galleries devoted to items sent to Rouen from the Manufacture de Sèvres during the 19th and 20th centuries have recently been opened to the public. This collection now numbers some one hundred pieces. Three fine ensembles illustrate the last quarter of the 19th century, design in 1900 and the period between the two World Wars. New forms borrowed from nature, flame patterns and crystalline glazes testify to the creativity and individuality at Sèvres at the turn of the last century. Some examples of architectural and ornamental ceramics also illustrate this period.