Sweetmeat Dish thumbnail 1
Image of Gallery in South Kensington
On display at V&A South Kensington
Ceramics, Room 139, The Curtain Foundation Gallery

Sweetmeat Dish

ca. 1780 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Sweetmeat-tray of hard-paste porcelain painted with enamels and moulded. The outside is moulded in the shape of a leaf with a stalk forming the handle, coloured green. Inside is a formal spray of flowers painted in various colours.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Materials and techniques
Hard-paste porcelain painted with enamels and moulded
Brief description
Sweetmeat dish of tin-glazed hard-paste porcelain, Doccia porcelain factory, Doccia, ca.1780.
Physical description
Sweetmeat-tray of hard-paste porcelain painted with enamels and moulded. The outside is moulded in the shape of a leaf with a stalk forming the handle, coloured green. Inside is a formal spray of flowers painted in various colours.
Dimensions
  • Width: 9.5cm
Credit line
Bequeathed by Herbert Allen
Production
Attributed to Doccia by J.V.G. Mallet, ca. 1995
Subjects depicted
Bibliographic reference
Frescobaldi Malenchini, Livia ed. With Balleri, Rita and Rucellai, Oliva, ‘Amici di Doccia Quaderni, Numero VII, 2013, The Victoria and Albert Museum Collection’, Edizioni Polistampa, Firenze, 2014 pp. 102-103, Cat. 88 88. Sherbet cup circa 1780 hard-paste porcelain with tin-glaze painted in colours length 9 cm; width 6,5 cm no mark inv. C.789-1935 bequest: Herbert Allen Bibliography: unpublished The three sherbet cups in the shape of a leaf with the stem as the handle are derived from a model produced at Dehua in the 17th century (AYERS 2002, p. 55, cat. 6; I wish to thank Francesco Morena for this information), at that time used as a paintbrush-washer. In Europe they were used as cups for hot beverages and later as sherbet cups. Two of the cups are decorated in the centre with a little bouquet usually called “al mazzetto” (see cat. 90). These sherbet cups were manufactured at Doccia from 1766 until the end of the 18th century (GINORI LISCI 1963, p. 76). There are two types: a rare one in the shape of shell (GINORI LISCI 1963, p. 89, fig. 62; P. Roseo, inCERAMICHE ITALIANE ED EUROPEE 1994, p. 128, cat. 176) and this one, in the shape of a leaf which could be either plain white or painted with colours. Almost all of the manufacturers in Europe produced these kinds of cups, for example, Du Paquier in Vienna (STURM-BEDNARCZYK 1994, p. 39, cat. 20), but the first ones were made at Meissen in 1711-1712 in red grès even before they were made in porcelain (BOLTZ 2000, p. 52, cat. 51; EBERLE, 2011, p. 63, cat. 50-52; I wish to thank Alessandro Biancalana and Andreina d’Agliano for this information). L.F.M.
Collection
Accession number
C.789-1935

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Record createdJune 24, 2009
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