Dish
Dateca. 1758
Artist/Maker
Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory
(1745-1769)
MediumPorcelain, Soft-paste
DimensionsL: 8 3/8"; W: 6 5/8"; H: 1 1/8"
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1968-6
DescriptionOval, soft-paste porcelain dish has been molded to resemble a shell pattern. The hand-painted decoration spans nearly the entire dish. The decoration consists predominantly of the brown, green leaves and pink flowers of a geranium plant. There are also an assortment of insects, including a caterpillar, beetle, fly, and butterfly. There is a line of brown, iron oxide on the rim of the dish.Label TextDishes with this style of botanical decoration are often referred to as Hans Sloane style porcelain. Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) practiced medicine and had a passion for studying nature. In 1713 he purchased a riverside manor in Chelsea which included the Chelsea Physic Garden. Sloane encouraged medical students and the Society of Apothecaries to study, record, and experiment with local and foreign species of plants at the garden. The Chelsea’s Hans Sloane style dishes are a result of the research conducted at the Chelsea Physic Garden.
The shape of this dish has been attributed to Nicholas Sprimont, because it resembles a design for a silver shape. This dish shape was used from the raised anchor period into the gold anchor period. These were not always decorated with Hans Sloane style botanicals as this dish is. In the raised anchor and red anchor periods, this shape was sometimes decorated with fable scenes. The decoration on this piece is in the botanical style with geranium-like leaves and pink petal flowers and buds, and flying insects, a beetle, and a caterpillar.
InscribedNo
MarkingsBrown anchor painted on reverse side.
"The brown anchor commonly appears on later Red Anchor pieces as well as on some of those of the Gold Anchor period." Elizabeth Adams, CHELSEA PORCELAIN, 98.
ProvenanceEx coll: Lady Gascoigne, Leeds
Purchased from: Otto M. Wasserman, New York
Exhibition(s)
