Laviolette Limoges Bawo & Dotter Elite Works Vanity Tray With Roses
Product Description And Additional Pictures
We were delighted to find this lovely, Laviolette Limoges Bawo & Dotter Elite Works antique porcelain vanity tray with hand-painted roses dating back to approximately 1896. In perfect condition, this antique Limoges vanity tray's exquisitely scalloped and textured mold is true to the intricate styling of contemporaneous RS Prussia pieces: these are the grande dames of antique porcelain! The backstamps on this elegant Laviolette Limoges Bawo & Dotter Elite Works vanity tray (see our photographs) tell us that the whiteware for this mold was produced by the Laviolette Company, which was in business in the Limoges region from 1896 to 1905. The tray was then decorated by a Bawo and Dotter factory artist and distributed to either Western Europe, or the United States. The specific 'Elite' backstamp on this antique tray was used by Bawo and Dotter between 1891 and 1896, thereby giving us our estimated date of manufacture of 1896. A true artist painted this tray: it has been sponged in soft shades of sage and blue, deftly edged in gold, and then over-painted with the beautiful, fully open blooms of white summer roses. Circumspect touches of enameling to the petals and leaves give this lovely painting depth and texture. The longer we gaze upon this lovely painting, the more we see, and the more we are drawn into this summer of long ago.
Our vanity tray is a respectable size, measuring 11-5/8" by 8-1/4". As previously indicated, it is in perfect condition, with no nicks, chips, cracks or other defects. There are two pin-sized glaze pops on the border - unavoidable with ceramics - and only very light wear to the gilding on one of the short sides of the tray, which tells us that the original owner appreciated the tray's beauty and handled it as little as possible. We believe it was originally made to be a vanity tray, but it is too exquisite to use it for this purpose now! This skillfully decorated piece deserves to be displayed front and center on a shelf, or in your cabinet!