Camille Tharaud born in France in 1878 was probably the most important artist ever for making Limoges Enameled Elegance. He also mastered pâte sur pâte, or literally translated: paste on paste. The translation paste on paste however is misleading. The dark tint of the cobalt blue used for these jewelry boxes makes these pâte sur pâte objects so striking. They are finely painted and hand tooled on white slip. Tharaud's conception of the grand feu ̶ a single firing of an enameled piece at 1400 degrees ̶ literally locks the enamel decoration into the porcelain, permanently capturing the intended colors and decorating effects in one fell swoop. You can read more on page 17 of the 2009 high gloss book Deco Décor by Donald-Brian Johnson Leslie Piña. For you I do have three very special Camille Tharaud oval Limoges boxes with pâte sur pâte enameled angel reliefs. All three Camille Tharaud boxes are available at my Zen Cart powered on line boutique: Mariette's Back to Basics. They measure each 7" x 4½"
Angular shaped oval box with angel relief by Camille Tharaud, Limoges and in perfect shape!
Detail of the pâte sur pâte and also of the intricate gold painting all around the lid and bottom.
In the center, above the gold painting, you can see the CT (Camille Tharaud) initials and below Limoges. Very hard to capture on camera however...
On the bottom of the box is a green colored Camille Tharaud mark with Made in France above and Limoges France below.
An additional CT mark in gold with France Limoges above and below.
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Another beautiful cobalt blue oval Camille Tharaud Limoges box in pâte sur pâte and in perfect shape.
This one has top and bottom both done in cobalt blue enameled porcelain. Again it shows frolicking angels on some clouds and they seem to release a dove from a bird cage...
The gold decoration is in perfect shape as is of the other two oval boxes.
On the lid it does show the initials CT and Limoges
The bottom of he box shows Camille Tharaud's signature in green and Made in France above and Limoges France below.
This is the third Camille Tharaud Limoges box in pâte sur pâte with angels and again, in perfect condition. This too has a white with gold bottom part.
You can see the initials CT on the lid with the word Limoges underneath written into the clouds.
Here you see the signature even better.
In blue there is a mark Limoges and below that, you read France above the initials CT in gold with Limoges underneath.
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This was all I had to show about the pâte sur pâte angels on cloud nine. Hope you enjoyed it!
Above are two vases from Camille Tharaud with an angel cameo. I did scan this from page 53 of my 2009 book Deco Décor (you see the link + image to the left below this post). This set of vases is estimated at $ 1500 - 1800!
Christie's did auction off this heavenly plaque of pâte sur pâte by another artist, signed M. Chaufriasse Limoges. That sold on April 24 of 2003 for $ 5,019!
