A beautiful, large, Victorian paper mâché toleware-esque tray.
This sturdy tray was painted black with a simple golden floral design around the edge; a style which imitates the imported Chinese and Japanese lacquer wares that were popular in 19th century Britain. These pieces were highly coveted but difficult to obtain so a process was developed in the UK to recreate this look. The process was known as 'Japanning' because it resembled the lacquer on Japanese trays. It almost always featured stencilling and gilding on a black background as can be seen here.
The paint on this tray has some lovely crackles across the front and back in keeping with it's age and there are some slight water marks across the front, evidence of years of use. Some small sections of the very edge of the rim are missing on the underside of the tray but this is not visible from the top.
This stylish and elegant tray which would be great on a coffee or console table to display your favourite pieces, as a decorative backdrop to a shelf display or it could still be used for it's original purpose.
MEASUREMENTS
Length 61cm x width 48cm x depth 3.5cm
SHIPPING
UK shipping included in price. International shipping calculated at checkout.