Botanical dish with white sunflower
ca. 1755
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Overall (confirmed): 1 1/4 × 10 3/4 × 10 3/4 in. (3.2 × 27.3 × 27.3 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Chelsea
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2016
Accession Number
2016.221
Tags
Art Historical Context
Crafted around 1755 by the esteemed Chelsea Porcelain Manuf in London, this *Botanical dish with white sunflower* exemplifies the age of British soft-paste porcelain. Operating from the 1740s to 1769, Chelsea was one of England's pioneering porcelain factories, producing luxurious tableware that rivaled Chinese imports and German Meissen wares. Soft-paste porcelain, made from a mixture of white clay and ground glass fired at lower temperatures, allowed for delicate translucency and intricate molding—key to its appeal in the Rococo era's love for ornate, nature-inspired elegance. Measuring a m...
About the Artist
Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory · 1744–1784
**Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory** The Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory, Britain's pioneering porcelain enterprise, was founded around 1743 in Chelsea, London, by two Huguenot silversmiths: Nicholas Sprimont from Liège and Charles Gouyn. Sprimont, trained in Paris as a goldsmith before immigrating to England, brought his expertise in luxury metalwork to the venture, while Gouyn handled early sales th...