Candelabrum with figures of Spring and Winter (one of a pair)

Art Historical Context

This elegant candelabrum, created around 1765 at the Bow Porcelain Factory in London, exemplifies the refined taste of mid-eighteenth-century British decorative arts. Produced in soft-paste porcelain—a material favored by early English factories for its creamy texture and suitability for detailed modeling—the piece stands just under ten inches tall. It forms one half of a pair designed to represent the four seasons, here featuring allegorical figures of Spring and Winter surrounded by lively children and adults. Bow’s artisans drew inspiration from contemporary European porcelain centers while adapting designs to British preferences, often incorporating charming narrative elements like the seasonal personifications seen here. The factory, active from the 1740s to the 1770s, helped establish porcelain production in England at a time when such luxury goods were still largely imported. Delicate modeling and subtle coloring allowed these objects to serve both practical and ornamental roles in Georgian homes. Today in the Metropolitan Museum’s collection, the candelabrum highlights how British makers transformed imported techniques into distinctly local expressions of elegance and seasonal celebration.

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...