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Dessert dish
Chelsea Porcelain factory - Enlarge image
Dessert dish
- Place of origin:
London, England (made)
- Date:
1752-1755 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Chelsea Porcelain factory (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels
- Credit Line:
Bequeathed by Mr Wallace Elliot
- Museum number:
C.112-1938
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 53a, case 1
Object Type
This oval dish may have been intended for serving food during dinner or the dessert course of a grand meal. Alternatively, it may have been used as a stand for a sauceboat, as silver sauceboat stands of this shape are known. The shape was clearly a popular one at Chelsea, for many of these dishes survive, some painted with botanical or landscape decoration and others with Japanese patterns.
People
Nicholas Sprimont (1716-1773) made silver sauceboats with stands of this shape in 1747-8, before he abandoned his career as a silversmith in order to devote himself to making porcelain at Chelsea. Sprimont was a gifted designer and modeller and probably designed these dishes. A visitor to England said of the Chelsea factory's earliest years that 'an able French artist' supplies 'or directs the models of everything manufactured there'. Sprimont was not actually French, but was from the French-speaking part of Flanders.
Trading
The Chelsea factory aimed at the top end of the market. It sold its wares from the factory site, from factory-run warehouses in the West End of London, through London ceramic dealers and at auction held in London, Dublin and probably elsewhere.
