Pair Of Plates In Limoges Porcelain, Pâte Sur Pâte Decoration, Riffaterre

An exceptional pair of bluish-gray porcelain dishes decorated with a paste-on-paste design depicting a woman's profile in a frame of pampers and flowers on a blue background enhanced with gold. The rim of the scalloped plate is underlined by a gold fillet and embellished with a gold staple motif.
These two plates (or dishes) are characteristic both of the work of Auguste Riffaterre, one of the masters of the paste-on-paste technique, and of the organic aesthetic of the Art Nouveau style that emerged at the end of the 19th century and lasted until around 1910. The linear stylization of the locks, the plant motifs adorning the hair, the cameo-like treatment of the figure in profile... many of the details are reminiscent of the graphic arts of the Art Nouveau period, notably Alphonse Mucha, whose decorative idealization of the woman as allegorical figure is also to be found here.