HISTORY:
We are a family who appreciates, enjoys and used to collect art in it's many forms. This includes original artworks, fine chinaware (particularly from England/Ireland and Japan) colourised lithographs and yes, hand decorated "blanks" of ceramics or porcelain.
This plate is based on a blank piece of "arty" bright white porcelain and the artist has set out to decorate the blank and add gold gilding.
Actually when we found this piece in the mid 1980's (while treasure hunting out in Regional Victoria) it came with a small bowl that sat in the area of the plate that has no decoration work (the blank white area). As luck would have it, that piece decided to "toss" itself off the table and was no more ....
From that time on we would take this plate out of the display cabinets and use it with a nice crystal dish instead, or sometimes we would just "spray" the top of the plate with candies for the visiting grandchildren (see photograph)
While we are now surrounded every day by wonderfully creative works, it has dawned on us (eventually) that some pieces had to go into the big wide world and find another caring home which would appreciate them.
THE ARTIST:
Oh how we wish we knew! She is obviously very skilled at her craft but we do not know who she is/was. We have our suspicions she is from the Victorian regional areas but I cannot match this artist with any of the various Barbara Stevens I found online, based on their signings or style/media used.
It's just nice to know who's art you are looking at but it is THE ART that really matters after all ...
CANDIES OR THE CRYSTAL DISHES ARE NOT INCLUDED!!! (I ate the candies and the crystalware is available in separate advertisements)
BARBARA STEVENS - Display Plate
Hand painted and gilded
Bright White porcelain base (actually has a subtle hint of blue when held to the sunlight) with a patterned/raised top relief
Translucent, partially, meaning that if held to a bright light you can FAINTLY see the shadow of your hand through the porcelain.
The porcelain is quite thick (6mm) and this results in quite a heavy plate, weighing 220g
Design: flowing rose design which we always called climbing roses but in reality we don't think they are "climbers", the buds are too loose but it matters not, they are subtle and look gorgeous on the plate!
The artist is obviously very skilled at her craft, the detail in the roses and foliage is exquisite as is the gold gilding (no 'dabs" of gold where it should not be!)
Heavy hand painted gold gilding to the outer rim and to the ridges of the inside rim
DIMENSIONS:
Plate: 159mm diameter
WEIGHT: (quite heavy) 220g
COSMETIC CONDITION:
Bright, clean white porcelain base
NO cracks
NO artwork damage at all
On the underside of the plate, the artist has acknowledged her craftwork and the year
All writing is in "flowing writing" using gold metallic paint (the same as that used for the gilding)
Hand Painted by Barbara Stevens 1981
A very skillfully decorated piece of porcelain.
SPECIAL NOTE:
I would suggest that the roses artwork has NOT been glazed, handle with great care! If I look VERY closely at her painting/brush work I can see a "dullness" around the artwork i.e it is not shiny from a protective glaze.
I did tentatively give this piece a LIGHT 'wipe over' with just a damp cloth and no damage occurred (Phew!) but it would be wise to treat this artwork with the greatest of respect.
If using the plate as a base for a nice crystal sweets dish (as shown in one of the photographs) make sure the dish is not too large or the base may scratch the artwork of the plate or at the very least, place anything on the plate with care.
