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Slop basin
Chelsea Porcelain factory - Enlarge image
Slop basin
- Place of origin:
Chelsea, England (made)
- Date:
1759-1769 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Chelsea Porcelain factory (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamel colours and gilt
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Miss Emily S. Thomson
- Museum number:
520-1902
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 52b, case 2
Object Type
The basin is from a tea and coffee service for six people. It would have been used by the lady of the house, as a receptacle for the dregs from cups, when pouring further cups of tea. In some18th-century portraits, these basins can be seen set on tea tables and covered with a plate of cakes or slices of bread.
Design & Designing
The service is similar to one offered at auction in London in 1770. This was described as 'a very curious and matchless tea and coffee equipage, crimson and gold, most inimitably enamell'd in figures, from the designs of Watteau'. Although the figure subjects here are not directly copied from the work of the French Rococo painter Jean-Antoine Watteau (1684-1721), they are certainly inspired by his work.
Materials & Making
The Chelsea porcelain factory introduced the crimson ground around 1760, when a London auction of Chelsea porcelain included 'a few pieces of some new Colours which have been found this year by Mr [Nicholas] Sprimont, the Proprietor, at a very large Expence, incredible Labour, and close Application'.
