- Museum number
- C411.1
C411.2 - Object
- Teabowl and saucer: The Cat and the Fox; The Lion and the Fox, Meissen Porcelain Factory, hard-paste porcelain, about 1730
- Description
- Tea Bowl, one of a set with saucer C 411.1 and pair with C412.1, 2. German, Meissen, c. 1730. Hard paste porcelain decorated in enamel colours and gilding. The small tea bowl with simple footrim, flaring sides and rim, the outside decorated in enamel colours with one cartouche, containing a scene from Fontaine's Aesop's Fables of the Fox, Dog and Cat up a tree, a landscape in the distance, in a gilt Rococo frame with scrolling acanthus leaves in iron red, around the rest of the cup are three birds in flight in iron red, inside the cup, a landscape of a tree and rocks in brick red encircled by two red lines in the base, the rim decorated with gilt scrolling pattern and solid gilt band, the delicate pattern now substantially worn.
- Materials
- Porcelain
- Inscription
- Cup: Faint red scroll and dot. Saucer: Faint scroll mark in red/brown.
- On display?
- Yes
Further description
- Simple name
- Cup
Saucer - Subject
- Mythological
- Dimensions
- regular: 4.0cm (w)
Pair of teabowls and saucers: The Cat and the Fox; The Lion and the Fox; The Fox and the Monkey; The Greedy Dog
Meissen Porcelain Factory
Hard-paste porcelain, about 1730
C411 & C412
This group of porcelain by the Meissen factory is decorated with scenes of animals taken from Aesop’s Fables. This famous collection of moral stories is credited to Aesop, an ancient Greek slave and story teller. They were popularised in the seventeenth century by the French poet Jean de la Fontaine (1621–1695).
The Cat and the Fox
A fox boasted to a cat: ‘I have a whole bag of tricks’ he said ‘and a hundred ways of escaping my enemies.’ ‘I have only one’ said the cat. Just then a pack of hounds came howling towards them. Straight away, the cat scampered up a tree and hid. ‘That’s my plan’ said the cat. ‘What’s yours?’ The fox was still trying to decide which of his tricks to use when the hounds caught him and killed him. The watching cat said:
Better one safe way than a hundred you can’t count on.
The Lion and the Fox
When the fox first saw the lion he was terribly frightened, and ran away and hid. The next time he came near the King of Beasts he stopped at a safe distance and watched him pass by. The third time, the fox went straight up to the lion and chatted with him, asking him how his family were, and when he would see him again. Then turning his tail, he sauntered off.
Familiarity breeds contempt.
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