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The Three Graces distressing Cupid
Derby Porcelain factory - Enlarge image
The Three Graces distressing Cupid
- Object:
Figure group
- Place of origin:
Derby, England (made)
- Date:
late 18th century (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Derby Porcelain factory (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Biscuit soft-paste porcelain, press-moulded, with smear-glaze and 'patch marks'
- Credit Line:
Given by Mrs James, in memory of her son, George Brooksbank-James FRCS
- Museum number:
C.59:1, 2-1924
- Gallery location:
Ceramics Study Galleries, Britain & Europe, room 139, case 9, shelf 5
The composition for this figure group was taken from a print. This was common practice with many of the more ambitious British porcelain figure models. Here the print was Etiam Amor Criminibus Plectitur ('Even Cupid is not alien to crime'). This engraving of 1777 by William Wynne Ryland reproduced a design by the painter Angelica Kauffmann. Ryland's engravings are listed in an inventory of prints owned by the Derby porcelain factory in 1791.
The Derby factory made two versions of this subject. The first was issued around 1782 and is a very skilful adaptation of a two-dimensional drawing to a three-dimensional figure. This second version is a much less skilful reworking of the subject. Derby's unglazed porcelain figure groups were advertised in 1773 as being 'particularly suited for the Embellishment of Desserts'.
