Beaker (part of a garniture)

Art Historical Context

This elegant beaker, standing 12½ inches tall, was crafted around 1773 at the Bristol porcelain factory in England as part of a garniture—a coordinated set of decorative vessels meant for display on a mantel or cabinet. Produced under the leadership of Richard Champion, with possible contributions from the painter Socquet, it exemplifies the British pursuit of hard-paste porcelain, a durable and luminous material long mastered in Asia and Meissen but only recently achieved in Britain. The hard-paste technique allowed for crisp modeling and fine painted details, here featuring tree motifs that...