Schumann Arzberg Bavaria Alpine Floral Trinket Tray – c.1950

There’s something quietly magnificent about a piece of Schumann Arzberg Bavaria porcelain. This is German quality at its most understated: a fine porcelain trinket tray from circa the 1950s, export-marked ‘FOREIGN’ for markets beyond Germany, bearing the Schumann Arzberg crown-and-crest backstamp that has graced Bavarian porcelain since the 19th century.

The decoration is an Alpine wildflower bouquet — and it’s a beauty. Two deep cobalt-blue gentian bells dominate, their petals richly detailed and almost velvety in their depth of colour. Between and around them: a white edelweiss with its characteristic starburst centre, clusters of soft pink phlox in full bloom, and a grounding of warm olive-green foliage that ties it all together. No border, no gilded rim fanfare — just a clean, thin band of gold at the very edge and the flowers, confident and centred on a bright ivory-white ground.

It’s the kind of piece that looks like it belongs on a dressing table in a Bavarian mountain lodge in 1952. Which is, frankly, exactly where we all want to be.

• Schumann Arzberg, Bavaria, Germany, c.1950
• Export piece — FOREIGN backstamp
• Alpine wildflower bouquet: blue gentian, white edelweiss, pink phlox
• Olive-green foliage, clean ivory-white ground
• Simple gold rim, no border decoration
• Diameter: 11.5 cm
• Weight: 90 grams
• Condition: excellent vintage condition

WARNING: This tray will make you want to move to the Bavarian Alps, learn to yodel, and collect every piece of Schumann Arzberg ever made. Maison de L’oro accepts no responsibility for any subsequent obsession with German export porcelain or unexplained urges to hike mountains.