Longjiang is a perfect example of the Vieux Marseille design found on faience dinner services that were produced in the South of France in the 18th century. Chinese patterns were the latest fashion at the time, as Europeans went wild for the Orient and Eastern influences on the decorative arts. André Raynaud was a lover of antiques, and in 1974 he bought a faience plate with a design he admired. He later used it for his own porcelain—finer, more translucent and delicate than faience, making it possible to reproduce the designs and colors in strikingly meticulous detail. This collection features six original pastoral scenes, depicting fishermen in an exotic setting. The rims of the plates are decorated with foliage and birds, and an elegant green trim. Today Raynaud is recreating this emblematic design in an Argent shape—an 18th-century scalloped edge which further enhances the design.