Venus and Cupid

The decline of the cameo glass industry may have been due to a failure to keep pace with stylistic changes around the turn of the 20th century. Competing decorative techniques were another factor. One of these techniques, pâte-sur-pâte, was developed in the 1850s at the porcelain factory in Sèvres, France. It consisted of applying relief-like layers of porcelain to the glaze of a dish, and it became particularly fashionable in Art Nouveau porcelain made in Sèvres and Meissen, Germany. With its detailed, classical decoration, the Venus and Cupid plaque seems to be a reaction against the new methods of ornamentation. (see George and Thomas Woodall, 92.2.10, and cameo glass in Stourbridge (89.2.11).