Italian Bisque Porcelain Grand Tour Style Plaque With Gilt Border | Italy, Mid-20th C.

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Italian Bisque Porcelain "Grand Tour " Eagle Plaque with Gilt Border | Grand Tour Style | Italy, Mid-20th C.
A … Read more Italian Bisque Porcelain "Grand Tour " Eagle Plaque with Gilt Border | Grand Tour Style | Italy, Mid-20th C.
A refined example of the Italian decorative tradition that captivated generations of Grand Tour travelers, this 7-inch bisque porcelain plaque centers on a magnificently rendered intaglio Roman eagle — wings spread in imperial command, talons gripping a fasces below. The matte white bisque finish lends the relief a sculptural, almost lithic quality, evoking ancient Roman coinage and marble cameos collected by aristocratic travelers on their Continental journeys. Encircling the composition is a richly detailed gilt border of egg-and-dart and bead molding — classically proportioned and crisply cast — that frames the scene with all the authority of a Roman medallion. Marked "Italy" to the reverse and fitted with a hanging wire, it arrives ready to display.
Bas-Relief Porcelain & the Bisque Tradition
Bas-relief — from the French basse-relief, meaning "low raised work" — is the technique of sculpting a design so that it projects outward from its background, creating depth and dimensionality through light and shadow rather than full three-dimensional form. It is among the oldest sculptural traditions in human history, seen on Roman friezes, Greek temple pediments, and Egyptian tomb walls alike. When executed in bisque porcelain, the results are particularly arresting: the unglazed, matte surface catches raking light across every raised contour, amplifying the sculptural presence of the piece without the distraction of gloss or color. Bisque porcelain was perfected in 18th-century Europe as the ideal medium for this kind of fine sculptural work, its dense, smooth grain holding crisp detail with remarkable fidelity. Italian craftsmen of the mid-20th century carried this tradition forward with great skill, producing decorative plaques and medallions that consciously referenced the Grand Tour market of prior centuries, when wealthy Northern Europeans returned from Rome laden with cameos, plaster casts, and classical reliefs. This plaque is very much a descendant of that tradition — a souvenir of civilization, crafted with genuine care.
Details:

Material: Bisque porcelain with gilt border
Diameter: 7 inches
Origin: Italy, Mid-20th Century
Style: Neoclassical / Grand Tour
Condition: Very good vintage condition
Fitted with hanging wire to reverse See less