page_title: Pâte-sur-pâte
hierarchical_section_title: Pâte-sur-pâte
caption_attribution_description: pâte sur pâte Malerei auf Seladon-Fond
context_page_description: Pâte-sur-pâte is a French term meaning "paste on paste". It is a method of porcelain decoration in which a relief design is created on an unfired, unglazed body, usually with a coloured body, by applying successive layers of white porcelain slip with a brush. Once the main shape is built up, it is carved away to give fine detail, before the piece is fired. The work is very painstaking and may take weeks of adding extra layers and allowing them to harden before the next is applied.
  The usual colour scheme is a white relief on a contrasting coloured background, which in England was often Parian ware. The effect is somewhat similar to other types of relief decoration, in particular sprigging. However, unlike Jasperware, for example, a mould is not normally used, and the ceramic artist is able to achieve translucency. The method also gives results resembling cameos in stone or cameo glass.
  The development of pâte-sur-pâte dates back to 1850 in France, and an accident that occurred at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres.
context_section_description: Pâte-sur-pâte is a French term meaning "paste on paste". It is a method of porcelain decoration in which a relief design is created on an unfired, unglazed body, usually with a coloured body, by applying successive layers of (usually) white porcelain slip (liquid clay) with a brush. Once the main shape is built up, it is carved away to give fine detail, before the piece is fired.  The work is very painstaking and may take weeks of adding extra layers and allowing them to harden before the next is applied.
  The usual colour scheme is a white relief on a contrasting coloured background, which in England was often Parian ware.  The effect is somewhat similar to other types of relief decoration, in particular sprigging.  However, unlike Jasperware, for example, a mould is not normally used, and the ceramic artist is able to achieve translucency.  The method also gives results resembling cameos in stone or cameo glass.
  The development of pâte-sur-pâte dates back to 1850 in France, and an accident that occurred at the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. The company was trying to reproduce a decorative technique from a Chinese vase, but misinterpreting the vase, the experiment took them along a different path from the Chinese potter. They perfected what became known as pâte-sur-pâte.
  Marc-Louis Solon took the style to England, and others to Germany and Austria.  The period within 15 years either side of 1900 was the heyday of the technique.  Many pieces made in the State, formerly Imperial Porcelain Factory in Leningrad after World War II are said to use it, but are perhaps sprigged, then hand-finished. Bronislav Bystrushkin designed many, mostly using the classic Jasperware "Wedgwood blue" and white.
caption: Berlin porcelain plate.
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