It's porcelain plaque month at Lauder and Howard.

We currently have a great collection of plaques by various European manufacturers including Limoges, K.P.M. Choisy le Roi and Royal Doulton.

Porcelain plaques are more difficult to work on than an oil painting as the ceramic paints do not attain their final colour until they are fired at the correct temperature.

Many ceramic colours have to be fired at different temperatures and will discolour if heated above that temperature. You therefore must apply and then fire the high temperature colours first and then work your way down. The nett result being a tremendous amount of skill is reqired to produce images such as the one featured here by K.P.M.

Porcelain plaques were immensly popular in the late nineteenth century and displayed tremendous levels of skill. Their last hurrah was the Arts and Crafts movement and by the 1920's tastes had moved on.

Our selection is viewable in the "pictures" section of our site.