HISTORY:
My wife loves, appreciates and collects "special" English & Irish china and porcelain pieces but there once was a time when "other" pieces were considered by her ... such as Limoges
This interest in Limoges porcelain was actually 'bought on' by the VERY interesting vase that she was given a long time ago (it is also on offer on this website) although it must be said, this plate was acquired by my wife quite a while after the vase, make no mistake ... this is 'contemporary' Limoges and is not 'old' at all - anything less than 50 years is not old, to us!
She estimates this plate was made sometime between the 1960's and 1980's, for sure it is indeed quite a spectacular plate with plenty of visual appeal but ... she just doesn't like a couple of aspects of modern Limoges in particular.
MNP on the Green backstamp mark is apparently a refence to a French manufacturer of porcelain BLANKS, they were located in Limoges and using Kaolin based hard paste to produce the blanks. Apparently MNP is an abbreviation of "Manufacture Nouvelle de Porcelaine" which is a pretty run of the mill name as I think this roughly translates to 'we make new porcelain' - interesting graphics on the backstamp, two dogs! A little 'in house' joke she used to tell "Oh that plate is just a dog" not very flattering!
So, MNP only produced this blank and then passed this on to a different company who then decorated the blank, 'dress it up' so to speak. Problem is, who was that other company, who was the artist who signed the floral artwork and for that matter, who was the gilder? So many questions - no answers.
My wife does not like this type of "multi-stage mystery" manufacturing and has stuck to her good old English pieces which tended to be created and finished all at the one works and often special features such as an artist could be identified fairly easily e.g early Minton vases are an example
With all that in mind, Yes my wife has never liked the 'pedigree' of this piece (more like a mongrel in her eyes) but the decoration is truly quite amazing, if only for the "little touches" which I will explain further in this description.
So let's get down and boogie ...
Manufacture Nouvelle de Porcelaine (MNP) - White porcelain blank plate
Made in Limoges, France
Decorated (artwork and gilding) but an unknown company or person
Circa the period 1960's ~ 1980's
7.5" diameter display plate
Provided with a plain old Black plastic plate stand for display purposes
Design name or code number is not indicated and is unknown
Fusion of transfer technology with hand crafting
What does that mean Russ? (I hear you asking, while standing on one leg)
Taking out the trusty magnifying glass, I looked at the artwork very closely ... the primary artwork looks to be transferware BUT White strokes have been added to this artwork and this is definitely hand painted. The signature is also hand painted using a Silver metallic paint and it appears to be above the glaze as I can feel it is raised above the rest of the area. Another thought comes to mind, possibly double-glazed which would make sense to protect this signature.
The Ultramarine Blue band also 'could' be hand applied, I could not quite figure this out - interesting that near the inner edges I can see a very faint 'Blueness' to the White porcelain.
The Gold gilding has also been hand applied and with amazing skill! Each little design is very slightly different to it's neigbours but done very precisely without Gold spilling to areas that it shouldn't have. The final band of Gold around the rim has been heavily applied and again without straying from the intended area of application. I for one am impressed!
In the 'underside' photograph you can see the mark of the gilder, out near the edge - funny thing about this mark, instead of just a couple of marks or even some initials, it looks for all the world like a old oil lamp!
Weight: 245g
MYSTERY NUMBER 1:
The decoration is SIGNED but I cannot quite figure out the name, possibly Yoss (although that doesn't sound very French, does it?) The signature is RAISED (using my finger to test it!) from the rest of the artwork and is actually a Silver metallic looking paint - it appears to be over the glaze, not underneath it.
Here is a small photograph of this tiny signature
BACKSTAMP:
This is a photograph of the actual Green backstamp
COSMETIC CONDITION:
NO chips
NO crazing
NO wear observed to the heavily applied Gold rim gilding. Also the Gold artwork applied within and just below the Ultramarine band is also undamaged in any way.
NO discolouration or wear showing to the central floral artwork, colours are vivid (but not too vivid) and 'lively'
NO damage to the small Black plastic plate support stand.
To keep things 'nice n clean', I have now packed the plate and stand into a sealed, clear plastic package while it awaits a new owner ...
