Description:
English Worcester porcelain cream jug decorated with a transfer-printed outline of a Chinese man holding a gilt teacup is seated at a marbelized, rectangular table with a vase of flowers and a woman standing behind him; a tall wooden stand with a vase under the spout; and a man, woman and child on the other side of the spout filled in with red, blue, green, yellow, purple, brown, and black. This pattern is often called "Chinese Family." This technique of Asian figures transfer printed in outline and filled in with enamel colors was limited at Worcester to a small range of patterns, of which this is one of the best known. An outline print colored in by hand would look as smart to many purchasers as freehand painting, but it enabled cheap, unskilled labor to be used as a way to keep costs down. These patterns with Chinese figures, which came into vogue at Worcester in the 1760's, were often almost literal copies of the Chinese export porcelains in the Mandarin style. This shape of cream jug, with its "sparrow beak" or V-shaped spout, and an attached small, ridged handle loosely adapted from silver, was the established shape at every English porcelain factory, from the early 1750's until the 1790's. The interior rim of the jug is decorated with a gilt scallop and dot border; this decoration confirms that this is a cream jug since it would not need a cover.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+56.268 |
