Gold Encrusted Porcelain. Also called Gilding.

My very first encounter with this technique of gold applied to porcelain was a tea set, not the one above, created by Gorham. Or course, I bought it and this started my collection of gold encrusted porcelain.

Finding more pieces made by Gorham has been unsuccessful. But, a company called Packard made beautiful pieces and very affordable. The tray and other pieces in the picture are stamped Packard.

Gilding is any decorative technique for applying a very thin coating of gold to solid surfaces such as metal ( most common), wood, porcelain, or stone. Also described as gilded, it as traditionally silver in the West, to make silver-gilt (or vermeil) objects, but gilt-bronze is commonly used in China, and also called ormolu if it is Western. Methods for gilding include hand application and gluing, typically a gold-leaf, chemical gilding, and electroplating, the last also called gold plating. Parcel-gilt ( partial-gilt) objects are only gilded over part of their surfaces. This may mean that all of their inside , and none of their outside, of a chalice or similar vessel is gilded, or that the patterns or images are made up by using a combination of gilt and ungilded areas,

Learning the specific names and descriptions of the objects d’art that make our hearts beat a little faster help in the search and pricing of such objects. Very little of written, to my knowledge, about this particular type of gold-encrusted porcelain process. They are glorious, in their stand alone, awe inspiring beauty.