{"product_id":"hand-painted-souvenir-plate-pikes-peak-from-ute-pass-blue-lustre-ground-with-gilt-swags-signed-and-dated-a-blickenstaff-1920","title":"Hand-Painted Souvenir Plate, Pike's Peak from Ute Pass, Blue Lustre Ground with Gilt Swags, Signed and Dated A. Blickenstaff 1920","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA cabinet plate on a moulded blank, and the painting in the well is the reason for it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe scene is titled in the artist's own script along the bottom edge: \u003cstrong\u003e\u003cem\u003ePike's Peak from Ute Pass\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e. A single railroad track sweeps in from the foreground and curves away to the right through the pass, the ties drawn one by one and the rails catching light. A telegraph pole stands beside the line with its crossarm and insulators picked out. Dark firs crowd both sides of the cut, a stand of aspen and pine falls away into the middle distance, and beyond it all the range rises in cool blue-grey, the summit ridge lit orange by a sun that has not yet cleared it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eIt is painted in soft washes with fine drawn detail over the top — a watercolourist's method, executed in ceramic colour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe blank it sits on is a good one. The rim is moulded with radiating flutes and shell fans and cut into a scalloped edge, and it carries a \u003cstrong\u003egraduated blue lustre wash\u003c\/strong\u003e that deepens from near-white at the well to soft sky blue at the scallops, with a pearl sheen that shifts as the plate turns.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eOver that run two \u003cstrong\u003egilt borders\u003c\/strong\u003e: a chain of linked quatrefoils in a zigzag, and inside it a garland of eight-pointed stars strung on a fine line.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe reverse is plain glazed white and carries, in confident black brush script, \u003cstrong\u003eA. Blickenstaff\u003c\/strong\u003e and the date \u003cstrong\u003e1920\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eTwo things are worth knowing here, and the first is the place.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePike's Peak\u003c\/strong\u003e is the great landmark of the Colorado Front Range, and \u003cstrong\u003eUte Pass\u003c\/strong\u003e is the historic corridor that climbs west out of the plains beside it — a route used long before the railroads, then graded for wagons, then followed by track. What the painter chose to show is not the mountain alone but the mountain \u003cem\u003efrom\u003c\/em\u003e the pass, with the rails in the foreground: the view a traveller actually had, from a train window, arriving.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe peak also has a particular hold on the American imagination for a specific reason. It was from its summit in 1893 that \u003cstrong\u003eKatharine Lee Bates\u003c\/strong\u003e looked out and began the poem that became \u003cem\u003eAmerica the Beautiful\u003c\/em\u003e — the purple mountain majesties are these.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe second thing is how the plate was made, and it is not what most people assume.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThis is \u003cstrong\u003echina painting\u003c\/strong\u003e: hand decoration in overglaze colour on a commercially manufactured blank, fired again at low temperature to fuse the paint into the glaze. The blank — the moulded rim, the lustre wash, the gilt transfers — came from a factory. \u003cstrong\u003eThe picture did not.\u003c\/strong\u003e Somebody bought that plate white-centred and painted a Colorado scene into the well by hand.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThat was one of the largest craft movements America has had, with its own suppliers, kilns, teachers and exhibiting societies, and it produced work from the frankly amateur to the seriously good. This is at the good end. The aerial perspective is handled properly — the range recedes in cool greys while the foreground firs stay warm and dark — the track is drawn in correct perspective through a curve, which is genuinely difficult, and the sunrise on the summit ridge is laid in as a wash rather than outlined.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAnd it is \u003cstrong\u003esigned and dated on the back in the painter's own hand: A. Blickenstaff, 1920\u003c\/strong\u003e. That is not an estimate, a style range or a factory date code. It is one person, one plate, one year.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eNo biography attaches to the name, which is ordinary for china painters however capable they were; almost none of them were listed artists. What the signature delivers is the thing a factory plate can never have — a known hand and an exact year, \u003cstrong\u003enow more than a century old\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003ctable border=\"1\" cellpadding=\"8\" cellspacing=\"0\" style=\"width:100%; border-collapse:collapse;\"\u003e\n    \u003cthead\u003e\u003ctr\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eField\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003cth align=\"left\" style=\"text-align:left; vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDetail\u003c\/th\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\u003c\/thead\u003e\n    \u003ctbody\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eObject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHand-painted cabinet or souvenir plate\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eSubject\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003e\n\u003cem\u003ePike's Peak from Ute Pass\u003c\/em\u003e, Colorado — titled in the painting in the artist's script\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eArtist\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eA. Blickenstaff, signed and dated to the reverse\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eDate\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003e1920\u003c\/strong\u003e — from the artist's own dated signature, not an estimate\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eTechnique\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eHand-painted overglaze china painting on a commercial blank, fired to fuse\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eBlank\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMoulded rim with radiating flutes and shell fans on a scalloped edge, under a graduated pearl-blue lustre wash, with factory gilt borders — a linked quatrefoil chain and a star garland\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGlazed ceramic with lustre, gilding and overglaze enamel\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eSigned \u003cem\u003eA. Blickenstaff\u003c\/em\u003e and dated \u003cem\u003e1920\u003c\/em\u003e in black to the reverse. No factory backstamp.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003e1920 — over one hundred years old\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eGood for its age, with the wear a century gives. The plate is sound and sits flat, with no cracks and no repairs. \u003cstrong\u003eThe painting is complete and unfaded\u003c\/strong\u003e — the full scene, the script title and the signature are all intact and strong, with no rubbing through the image. \u003cstrong\u003eThere is heavy allover crazing\u003c\/strong\u003e to the glaze, front and back, toned to a fine tan network; it is original to the glaze and the age rather than damage, and it is clearly visible. The blue lustre is bright and even. Expect \u003cstrong\u003elight wear and small losses to the gilt borders\u003c\/strong\u003e at the rim, a few small flakes and nicks to the scalloped edge, and scattered dark specks in the glaze. Condition Guaranteed.\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n      \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eAvailability\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd style=\"vertical-align:top;\"\u003eOne of a Kind — 1 Available\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n  \u003c\/table\u003e\n  \u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThis is a small painting that happens to be on a plate, and it should be hung or stood like one. On a plate rail, a picture ledge, a bookshelf or a wall group it reads as landscape art — and the pearl-blue lustre rim does something no frame can, catching light and shifting colour as you move past it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eThe subject sells itself to a specific person. Anyone from Colorado Springs, Manitou Springs or the Front Range; anyone who has driven Ute Pass or climbed the peak; a railroad collector, for the track and the telegraph line drawn with real attention; or anyone who knows where \u003cem\u003eAmerica the Beautiful\u003c\/em\u003e was written.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eAnd it carries a date most decorative objects cannot. A signed, dated, hand-painted object from 1920 is a century-old piece of one person's afternoon, and it survived. Objects like this are what separate a curated shelf from a bought one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eA note on care, and the crazing sets the rules. \u003cstrong\u003eDo not use this plate for food, and never wash it in a dishwasher or soak it.\u003c\/strong\u003e The glaze is crazed through, which means it is an open network into the body; water carries stains straight in, darkens the craze permanently, and no washing brings it back. The decoration is also overglaze, so detergent and dishwasher heat would dull and lift the painting itself.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eDust it dry with a soft cloth or brush. If it needs more, use a barely damp cloth and dry it at once, and use no abrasive pad, cream cleaner or bleach — bleach is sometimes recommended for crazing and it will destroy overglaze paint and gilding.\u003c\/p\u003e\n  \u003cp\u003eKeep it out of direct sunlight, which fades overglaze colour, and off a damp wall or a bathroom, where crazing wicks moisture. If you hang it, use a spring-wire plate hanger with padded arms seated on sound rim, or better, a plate stand so nothing bears on the edge — the scalloped rim already has small losses and tension is what turns a nick into a crack.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48039648657513,"sku":"VE-0697","price":240.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/90C940A5-4F8B-4647-8854-120A25FC96DC.jpg?v=1789113079","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/hand-painted-souvenir-plate-pikes-peak-from-ute-pass-blue-lustre-ground-with-gilt-swags-signed-and-dated-a-blickenstaff-1920","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}