- Museum number
- C197A
C197B - Object
- Tea bowl and saucer, Chelsea Porcelain Factory, soft-paste porcelain, about 1750
- Description
- Tea bowl and saucer, English, Chelsea, c. 1750. Soft-paste porcelain decorated with enamel colours, translucent glaze. The bowl and saucer both of octagonal shap, brown rim, decorated with sprays of flowers in the Meissen style, the cup with a pale yellow- winged butterfly, the inside of the cup with small blue flowers, the saucer with one larger spray of flowers, three small flowers and two insects, cup and saucer with brown rims.
- Materials
- Porcelain
- Inscription
- None
- On display?
- Yes
Further description
- Simple name
- Cup
Saucer - Subject
- Mythological
- Dimensions
- regular: 5.0cm (w)
Tea bowl and saucer
Chelsea Porcelain Factory
Soft-paste porcelain, about 1750
C196-7
Plants and flowers were a major source of inspiration for the designers of eighteenth-century porcelain. They were painted in underglaze blue, brightly coloured overglaze enamels or gleaming gold. In naturalistic rococo pieces moulded flowers and leaves form decorative finials, handles and even entire objects.
Early pieces copied Chinese and Japanese designs: the so-called Indianische blümen [Indian flowers] of Meissen. Later, native European flowers, known at Meissen as Deutsche blümen [German flowers] were copied from books of botanical illustrations. In England, the Chelsea Factory produced many striking pieces moulded in the forms of flowers, leaves and even vegetables.
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