Teacup

Date1752-1755

Maker Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory (1745-1769)

Attributed to Jefferyes Hammett O'Neale

OriginEngland, London

MediumSoft-paste porcelain

DimensionsH: 8 1/16"; Dia(at points): 3 1/4"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1962-87

DescriptionOctagonal cup with flat scroll handle and purple line around rim, painted on the exterior in purple monochrome with landscape: in the foreground, three horsemen engaged in battle; in the middle ground, ruined arches; and in the background, a tower and a large group of horsemen in battle. A floral bouquet is painted on the reverse and a blossom on the interior bottom.
Label TextJefferyes Hammett O'Neale may have painted the purple monochrome decoration on this cup. The attribution is due to its similarity to a teapot in the Shand Kydd Collection inscribed with the initials of O'Neale's last name. The two pieces, in fact, may be part of the same tea service. Not only are there similarities in the ruins, the horsemen, and the rocky foreground, but on the opposite side of each is a bouquet of flowers that has a characteristic "wishbone" of crossed branches at the end. When Frank Tilley published the wishbone branches as an O'Neale trait, he recalled another of the very few pieces signed by O'Neale--a dish in the Katz Collection (60.1528)--which has the same decorative character.

The decoration strongly resembles the engravings of Stefano della Bella (1610-1646) and may have been adapted from one of his engravings of the Turkish wars. The clustered equestrians with raised swords appear in several of those prints, as do the armies and the towers in the background. The decoration on a set of four dishes in the Untermyer Collection has been attributed to the same source. Della Bella's engravings were also used on Meissen, and thus the Chelsea decoration may have come via Meissen. A cup of this type is probably one of the "Twelve octogon tea cups and saucers enamell'd with purple landskip" listed in the 1755 catalog.

Red anchor period.
InscribedNo
MarkingsRed anchor painted on exterior base.
Provenanceex coll: Sheelah MacAlaster,London; M.G. Kaufman, Chicag