A POLYCHROME ENAMEL FOOTED PLATE

The intricate gilding of flowers, leaves, and stars on the present enamel would have been added by the Venetian craftsman after the blue, green, white and red enamel was fired. When not in use for banquets, this type of plate would have been placed on a credenza along the walls of a dining room in a fine Venetian home as a display of finery to be enjoyed during the meal. Two plates of the approximate same size with a single spiral of gadroons and strikingly similar central medallion were formerly in the collection of Baron and Baroness Salomon de Rothschild and can now be found at the Louvre Museum, Paris (inv. no. R248) and château d'Écouen, Écouen, (inv. no. 246). Another similar example, slightly larger, and formerly from a Swiss private collection is at the Kunstgewebemuseum, Berlin (inv. W 1968, 14) (see no. 118, 120, and 121).