Bunting
ca. 1760
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain
Dimensions
2 1/2 × 2 1/4 in. (6.4 × 5.7 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Bow, London
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Accession Number
64.101.721
Tags
Art Historical Context
Created around 1760 at the Bow Porcelain Factory in London, this charming small-scale figure exemplifies the early success of British porcelain manufacturing. The factory, one of the first in England to produce soft-paste porcelain commercially, specialized in delicate tableware and ornamental figures that appealed to the growing middle and upper classes eager for affordable alternatives to imported Chinese wares. Measuring just over two inches, *Bunting* likely served as a decorative accent for a mantelpiece or cabinet, reflecting the period’s taste for naturalistic subjects. The figure’s so...
About the Artist
Bow Porcelain Factory · 1747–1776
The Bow Porcelain Factory, established around 1747 in East London near Bow and relocated by 1749 to "New Canton" east of the River Lea, emerged as one of England's pioneering soft-paste porcelain manufacturers, rivaling the Chelsea factory. Founded by merchant Edward Heylyn and Irish painter Thomas Frye, who secured key patents in 1744 and 1748–49 for using Cherokee kaolin and bone ash, the factor...