{1920s Limoges Camille Tharaud pâte sur pâte Angel Boxes}

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.

Sold out...

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.

Sold out...

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! 

This high quality hard cover book I can highly recommend! Pages are all in high gloss with excellent photos: Deco Décor by Donald-Brian Johnson Leslie Piña.

{Green Pecans for Georgian Nocino Liqueur}

One week ago, on Thursday August 18, dear friend Bea wrote a post on her Modern Country Lady blog about Green Walnut Liqueur (see: Green walnut liqueur). Living in the Southeast of the USA, naturally we have NO  walnuts but we got PECANS and even in our own garden! So I did try my luck and made us some Green Pecan Liqueur - the Georgian version for the Italian Nocino Liqueur. So in a couple of months we will try it, drizzled over some ice cream for dessert and let you know! Recipe below this photo...

Ingredients:

25 - 30 green pecans (or walnuts for the northern regions)

¾ liter Brandy

600 g sugar

1 cinnamon stick

6 cloves

1 vanilla bean

zest of 1 lemon

Wash your green pecans (walnuts) and wear gloves and make sure that you don't stain your cutting surface with the nuts.

Use a glass bowl (because the nuts will stain other surfaces) to pour the brandy with the sugar. 

Add the zest of one lemon, the cloves and split the vanilla been lengthwise with a paring knife. You can scrape the seeds down from both sides and cut the pod in half and add as well.

Stir well till the sugar more or less has dissolved.

Now put the green pecan parts into a clean glass bottle you prepared for this recipe.

Pour the brandy and spice mixture over the nuts and shake well to blend.

Leave for at least one month and shake in-between, making sure that all sugar has dissolved.

Then you strain the mixture into bottles and leave it for six more weeks.

Ready in time for the holidays!

In Italy, Nocino is used as a digestive. You can also drizzle it over ice cream or use it in custards with cake.

Sadly the result was not what we expected it to be; way too bitter...

{Epiphyllum Bloom Missed...}

Oh my, we did miss our beautiful and FIRST bloom on a broad leafed Epiphyllum. We had looked so much forward to it but never got to see it open. We just got back from Atlanta and all we saw was this big 'closed' bloom. How pretty it must have been?! So we have to look forward to next time; as often in life. Hope you had a lovely day and some sunshine too. I'm rather tired from driving... So here are the photos and I'm off to bed!

She must have been just gorgeous!

When they came out of the greenhouse, Pieter did build a pedestal for them.

Its long stem almost looks like asparagus... Not the thin green one, as that is from another plant but talking about the stem above the flower head.

Like a silk gown...