Mug
ca. 1770
Medium
Hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Height: 4 11/16 in. (11.9 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Bristol
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Charles E. Sampson Memorial Fund, 1965
Accession Number
65.31
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate mug, crafted around 1770 by the pioneering British porcelain maker William Cookworthy in association with Bristol potteries, exemplifies early English hard-paste porcelain. Standing just 4 11/16 inches tall, it produced during a pivotal moment in British ceramics history. Cookworthy, a Quaker pharmacist, discovered Cornish kaolin—the key ingredient for true hard-paste porcelain—in 1756, breaking Europe's dependence on Chinese imports. His Plymouth and Bristol factories (1768–1771) marked Britain's first successful production of this durable, translucent material, rivaling Meissen...
About the Artist
Cookworthy|Bristol ( |British) · | – |
|British