High-Design Dinner Plates

There are sound arguments in favor of the plain white dinner plate: Some say it’s the best background for a wonderfully cooked meal; others like how easy it makes flower and tablecloth selection. But at a table set with malachite and op-art patterned porcelain, mosaic-trimmed and scarlet-lined bone china, or delicately floral-printed Limoges, those voices fall silent.

Hermes Mosaïque au 24 plate, $220; hermes.com

Alberto Pinto Belles Saisons dinner plate, $360; devinecorp.net

Rosenthal Meets Versace Marco Polo dinner plate, $135; rosenthalusa-shop.com

Bernardaud Special-edition Stingel dinner plate, $98; worksonwhatever.com

Richard Ginori Sesonrosefioriranno A plate, $75; 800-558-1855

Nymphenburg Tapete plate, $2,400; kneenandco.com

Bottega Veneta Nero Bianco porcelain dinner plate, $190; bottegaveneta.com

Pierre Charpin Limited-edition porcelain plate, $865 for set of four; 212-849-8355

Sylvie Saint-Andre Perrin Glacier dinner plate, $185; 800-558-1855

Armelle Chaumont Hand-painted Curiosités Limoges porcelain plate, $1,500; 212-426-2610

Shawn Laughlin for Caskata Handmade Cedar Berries plate in gold and platinum, $135; caskata.com —Compiled by Marisa Marcantonio