Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast (1754–1817) was founder of a porcelain manufacturer that pioneered a process of high relief, multicolored 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Hard-paste porcelain is a ceramic material that was originally made from a compound of the feldspathic rock petuntse and kaolin fired at very high temperature.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....

.

Nast was born in Austria. He worked at a state porcelain workshop at the Palace of Versailles

Palace of Versailles

The Palace of Versailles , or simply Versailles, is a royal château in Versailles in the Île-de-France region of France. In French it is the Château de Versailles....

 before starting his own factory, the manufacture de Nast

Manufacture de Nast

The manufacture de Nast was a prominent hard-paste porcelain factory founded in Paris in 1783 by Jean Népomucène Hermann Nast, an Austrian born French citizen....

, in 1783. There, Nast collaborated with French chemist Louis-Nicolas Vauquelin in introducing new intensely colored glazes. At the beginning of the 19th century the company, manufacture Nast, had risen to prominence, rivaling the manufacture nationale de Sèvres

Manufacture nationale de Sèvres

The manufacture nationale de Sèvres is a Frit porcelain porcelain tendre factory at Sèvres, France. Formerly a royal, then an imperial factory, the facility is now run by the Ministry of Culture.-Brief history:...

, having supplied French nobility, 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...

, 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...

, and many European courts.

Following Nast's death at Paris in 1817, his sons continued to operate the factory until its sale in 1835.