Description:
English soft-paste porcelain sweetmeat stand decorated around the sides with applied shells and flowers in green, red, yellow, and blue and with two levels with one bowl on top and three bowls around the base. At the end of an elaborate dinner party, one or two dessert courses were served. The first of these included jellies, flavored creams, semi-liquid sweetmeats in glasses, and dry sweetmeats arranged in pyramids. These often consisted of candied fruits and sugared-coated nuts set out on ceramic stands like this example. The Bow Porcelain Works (c.1747-1776) was established in a heavily industrialized district east of London, known as Stratford-le-Bow, which Bow management called "the New Canton" and built their factory to look like a "hong" or foreign factory of the British East India Company. The porcelain factory viewed Chinese export porcelains as their main competition and sought to imitate them as closely as possible with much of their output decorated in underglaze blue, mainly with Oriental-style scenic designs. The English porcelain expert David Redstone confirmed this stand as Bow and dated it during his visit with members of the the English Ceramic Circle, May 14, 2010.
Label Text:
Exibited in "Rococo: Celebrating 18th Century Design and Decoration" (2018-2019): Naturalistic forms and decoration were frequently integrated into English ceramic Rococo design, as illustrated by this group of pottery and porcelain. The Rococo's embrace of naturalism was certainly inspired by the ideals of the Enlightenment, and 18th-century intellectual movement that raised man's reason and scientific inquiry and discovery to new authoritative heights. Various publications, including the British Museum catalogue at the center of the case, highlighted natural discoveries and curiousities that were incorporated into ceramic forms, such as the adjacent sweetmeat stand with shell-shaped dishes. Several other ceramics in this case imitate the shape or appereance of natural stone or plants, such as the agate teapot and the cauliflower-shaped coffee pot. Some Deerfield residents were eager consumers of these new wares. For instance, in 1773, Paul Hawks purchased "1 Large agate tea pot" from Deerfield store owner John Williams (1751-1816)
Subjects:
Pottery; Enamel and enameling; glaze (coating by location); polychrome; Porcelain Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.291 |
