Plate

Ceramic Art Company, Trenton, New Jersey|Bruno Geyer, Austrian, active late 19th century to early 20th century

ca. 1904 · white bone china, painted with polychrome glazes with red border and gold pastework · The American Wing

Cabinet plates decorated with portraits, flowers, or birds and richly bordered in raised gold paste were fashionable in late-nineteenth-century Paris and Vienna. Bruno Geyer, a Viennese artist about whom little is known, specialized in portraits after European paintings. This plate features a copy of a self-portrait after Angelica Kauffmann. The skill of the artist is evident in the exquisite detail and shading of the painting and in the execution of the raised gold paste border. The original drawing for the border design, called the “Tiffany Special,” is in the Lenox Inc. Archives; the name refers to the luxury emporium that had exclusive rights to sell the plates. A notation on the drawing notes the border was designated for “Geyer Heads,” indicating the design was specifically created for the artist’s portraits.

Artist

Ceramic Art Company, Trenton, New Jersey|Bruno Geyer, Austrian, active late 19th century to early 20th century

Date

ca. 1904

Medium

white bone china, painted with polychrome glazes with red border and gold pastework

Culture

American

Department

The American Wing

Credit line

Gift of Emma and Jay Lewis, 2013