The manufacture de Nast was a prominent hard-paste porcelain

Hard-paste porcelain

Hard-paste porcelain is a ceramic material that was originally made from a compound of the feldspathic rock petuntse and kaolin fired at very high temperature. It was first made in China around the 9th century....

 factory founded in Paris in 1783 by Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast

Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast

Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast was founder of a porcelain manufacturer that pioneered a process of high relief, multicolored hard-paste porcelain....

, an Austrian born French citizen.

After working at a porcelain manufacturer in Versailles, Nast opened his own small factory in Paris in 1783. Following its successes through sales to the government of the French Directory

French Directory

The Directory was a body of five Directors that held executive power in France following the Convention and preceding the Consulate...

 and the court of Napoleon I

Napoleon I

Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader during the latter stages of the French Revolution.As Napoleon I, he was Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1815...

 the firm needed increased production and Nast with his two sons opened a large factory located on the rue du Chemin-Vert

Chemin Vert (Paris Metro)

Chemin Vert is a station of the Paris Métro, named after the Rue de Chemin Vert.The station opened on 5 May 1931 with the extension of the line from Richelieu - Drouot to Porte de Charenton. The Rue de Chemin Vert follows the route of an old foot path through the middle of market gardens...

 in the 11th arrondissement

IIe arrondissement

The 2nd arrondissement is one of the 20 arrondissements of Paris, the capital city of France. Located on the right bank of the River Seine, the 2nd arrondissement, together with the adjacent 8th and 9th arrondissements, hosts an important business district, centred on the Paris Opéra, which houses...

 of Paris in 1806. At the rue du Chemin Vert location Nast employed new techniques for the application of gold porcelain in high bas-relief. Nast patented this process in 1810. The manufacture de Nast was also in the forefront of developing new highly pigmented color glazes. Working with French chemist Louis Vauquelin, the first to isolate the element chromium

Chromium

Chromium is a chemical element which has the symbol Cr and atomic number 24. It is the first element in Group 6. It is a steely-gray, lustrous, hard metal that takes a high polish and has a high melting point. It is also odorless, tasteless, and malleable...

 in 1797 created an intense malachite green glaze called viridian

Viridian

Viridian is a blue-green pigment, a hydrated chromium oxide, of medium saturation and relatively dark in value. It is composed more of green than blue. Specifically, it is a dark shade of spring green, the color between green and cyan on the color wheel...

 that was able to remain stable at very high temperatures.

The firm's products were sold to the French upper class and to several courts of Europe, as well as one of the earliest state china services, used by President James Madison in the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 in or about 1814 (purchased privately on Madison's behalf in 1806 when he was Secretary of State, and used by him as President after the burning of the mansion and its contents by the British in the War of 1812).

Following the death of Nast in 1817, the factory continued under the leadership of his sons. Visiting an exhibit of the firm's wares at the Louvre

Louvre

The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...

 during the Paris Expostition of 1819 (also called the Restoration Exposition), Louis XVIII

Louis XVIII of France

Louis XVIII , known as "the Unavoidable", was King of France and of Navarre from 1814 to 1824, omitting the Hundred Days in 1815...

gave Nast's sons praise - "I observe with great pleasure the talent passed from father to son, I urge you to cultivate this."

Nast's two sons continued management of the manufacture de Nast until its sale in 1835.