Visually striking antique Victorian to early Edwardian era gilt ormolu or bronze 13.5" tall picture frame with blue & turquoise colored champleve & cloisonné style enamel decoration and unique neo gothic styling! Thick & heavy, simply gorgeous and richly gilded. The enamel decoration wonderful, as is the condition here. "Champleve" is a technique of etching the design into the bronze or brass panel itself, then filled with the enamel in various colors & shades. Often confused with "cloisonné" but that method is when wire is affixed on top of the base metal panel rather than incised into the panel. This one a mixture of the two really, with the deeper blue set into the panel and the turquoise filling the raised outer flower shapes. Possibly converted to a picture frame sometime in the past, it could have originally displayed a painting, perhaps a cross with Holy water font, given the style and our familiarity with similar pieces. Now a stunning picture frame!
Very good condition. No loss to the enamel to be found and the gilding is superb. The wire easel stand is not original and, if I were to keep it, I'd likely replace it with a slightly longer one so the piece would display more upright. See images for all measurements.
