Images(4)

Whip-poor-will

Date1750-1752

Artist/Maker Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory (1745-1769)

OriginEngland, London

MediumSoft-paste porcelain

DimensionsH: 6 3/8"

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1976-89

DescriptionChelsea Whip-Poor-Will perched on a flat-topped tree stump, the bird's red beak open, its plumage colored in clear tones of yellow, beige, pink, salmon and green, with blue wing tips, salmon-pink breast and blue head; the tree stump with clumps of moss colored in yellow and green, and a puce root with yellow tendrils, the details of the whole outlined in manganese.

Raised anchor period.
Label Text"The WHIP-POOR-WILL or lesser GOATSUCKER" appears in the second volume of George Edwards, where it is stated that it is like the "Bird called in England the Night-Hawk, or Goat-Sucker, except that it hath some Marks different, and is a third Part less. It is called in Virginia Whip-Poor-will, from its Cry, which nearly resembles those Words. . . ." Only two other examples of this model are recorded. All three have bright enamel colors similar to those found on salt-glaze believed to have been decorated by William Duesbury.

InscribedNo
MarkingsAn anchor raised in relief on an applied oval medallion is on base under tail.
ProvenanceMalcolm Stoner; Humphrey W. Cook, Richmond, Surrey, and London; Mr. and Mrs. James McGregor Stewart, Halifax, Nova Scotia, The Antique Porcelain Company, New York