Bowl
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Height (teapot .445a, b): 5 in. (12.7 cm); Diameter (waste bowl .446): 4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm); Width (cups .447, .448): 2 1/2 in. (6.4 cm); Diameter (saucers .449, .450): 4 1/4 in. (10.8 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Chelsea
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Accession Number
64.101.446
Art Historical Context
This elegant waste bowl, created around 1752–55 by the Chelsea Por Manufactory and decorated by painter Jefferyes Hammett O’Neale, exemplifies the early achievements of British porcelain production. Made of soft-paste porcelain—a delicate, glassy material developed in Europe as alternative to costly imported Chinese-paste—the piece part of a refined tea. Its modest size graceful proportions reflect the growing for tea drinking among’s upper classes during the-eighteenth century. O’Neale, known for his lively narrative scenes, brought artistic sophistication to’s tableware. The factory, establ...
About the Artist
Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory|Jefferyes Hammett O'Neale · 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...