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Encrusted gold frames green bands and painted flowers on plates by Hutschenreuther, the esteemed Bavarian house. Pickard gilded them in America during the Roaring Twenties, as Art Deco reached its peak. Read its story.
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Each plate began as Hutschenreuther porcelain in Selb, in the Bavarian region of Upper Franconia, then crossed the Atlantic for its gold. In about 1925, that Bavarian porcelain became the canvas for Pickard's gold. The pairing joined German porcelain to American gilding, old-world craft meeting new-world glamour.
Pickard laid the gold on by hand, encrusting the rim. Deep green sets that gold alight, a contrast as bold as the goldwork is fine.
A vibrant floral centerpiece is painted by hand at the heart of each plate, ringed by bands of deep green. Its blossoms stay fresh against that deep, cool shade. Around the rim, the gold encloses the flowers like a jeweler's setting. Those rims still carry the richness of the twenties today.
Hutschenreuther began with a young porcelain painter from Thuringia. At the start of the nineteenth century he set out for Bavaria, and the house dates its founding to 1814 at Hohenberg. After years of patience, in 1822 he won approval to open Bavaria's first private porcelain manufactory.
His son Lorenz carried the craft to Selb and opened a second factory there in 1857. The time-honored house took gold medals at a world exhibition devoted to glass and porcelain. In about 1903 the Lorenz Hutschenreuther works made a service designed by Hans Christiansen and decorated with stylized roses.
To this day Selb is called the heart of German porcelain. Its porcelain now graces homes far beyond Bavaria, gathered by collectors who value quiet craftsmanship. They know each piece carries the dream of a young painter who set out from Thuringia.
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