Dessert plate

Manufactory Niderviller French
1774
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
The trompe l’oeil motif of a print attached to wood planking by nails or sealing wax became so popular that during the second half of the eighteenth century many factories imitated it on tableware. Typically, the miniature faux prints depict landscapes with buildings and tiny figures; delicately executed cast shadows make the paper appear to lift. Sometimes the painter signed the print or, as with the plate here, inscribed it with the date and factory name. Whether a different painter would have been employed to execute the pine background remains an open question.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Dessert plate
  • Manufactory: Niderviller (French, manufactory established 1735)
  • Date: 1774
  • Medium: Tin-glazed earthenware
  • Dimensions: Diam. 9 9⁄16 in. (24.3 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics
  • Credit Line: Musée National de Céramique, Sèvres (MNC 6141)
  • Rights and Reproduction: © RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NY. Photo: Martine Beck-Coppola.
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art