4 Minton for Tiffany Pâte-sur-Pâte Signed Alboin Birks Plates, Raised Gilding

Description

An elegant and wonderful find featuring the pinnacle of porcelain artistry. This complete set of 4 Minton, England for Tiffany’s Pâte-sur-pâte luncheon or dessert plates decorated by the legendary Alboin Birks dates to 1923 – the height of the Gilded Age. Pâte-sur-pâte is French for “paste on paste” a technique by which delicate, translucent and ethereal figures can be sculpted onto porcelain by painstakingly building up layer after layer of thinned porcelain slip until the figure emerged. A process of painting in three dimensions that no one did better than Minton and Birks, their master artisan who spent 50 years with the company. These were created just a decade before he retired, and four years before the Great Depression ended much of the market for such elegant porcelain. Each plate features elaborate hand-tooled raised paste gilding featuring Minton’s signature beaded swag and classical detailing on a cream ground. Three pâte-sur-pâte cameos on a celeste blue ground adorn each plate and each cameo is individually signed by Alboin Birks. Pâte-sur-pâte was the flagship of the great porcelain manufacturers. Few did it as well as Minton – none better. A museum quality set like this comes up for sale rarely, and to find a complete set of 4 in such pristine condition is an incredible find.