A beautiful, large, Victorian papier mâché toleware-esque tray.
This beautiful tray was painted black with a pretty, inlaid 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 specks and marks across the front as well. The tray does have a few cracks around the edges and some small sections of the rim have worn away but to me, this just gives it a rustic as well as elegant charm.
This stylish and elegant tray would be great on a coffee or console table to display your favourite pieces, as a decorative backdrop to a shelf display or could even be hung to create a unique piece of wall decor.
DIMENSIONS
Length 78cm x width 58cm x depth 3cm
SHIPPING
UK shipping included in price. International shipping calculated at checkout.