Paintings On Plates

[Philip Jamison]

I, too, like that pretty plate art. I just sold an 1888 Weber grand with
butterflies, flowers, and gold striping. What a beauty. I've seen square
grands with faux mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell, too. I read a 19thC
sign painter's trade journal once that mentioned a guild of "safe
painters". These were the people who painted those landscapes on iron
safes. A similar profession involved wagon decoration. There were books
on nothing but that subject. It was a victorian thing: decoration for
its own sake. Plain was considered poorly made.

Philip Jamison
West Chester, PA