
-
Vase
Derby Porcelain factory - Enlarge image
Vase
- Place of origin:
Derby (made)
- Date:
1774-1775 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
Derby Porcelain factory (maker)
- Materials and Techniques:
Soft-paste porcelain painted with enamels, moulded and gilded
- Credit Line:
Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber
- Museum number:
414:436-1885
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, Room 118, The Wolfson Gallery, case 2
Object Type
This vase is one of a pair (414:436/A-1885). They were probably purely ornamental, and intended to be displayed on a mantelpiece or wall-bracket in a domestic interior. 'Antique' vases like this were also displayed in glazed china cabinets and set out on ladies' dressing tables. A Derby auction catalogue of 1773 states that 'Antique ... Urns, Vases, Jars, &c' were 'particularly adapted for the Decoration of Chimney Pieces, Cabinets, Toilets. &c.'
Trading
Vases of this kind are probably similar to the 'Octagon inverted vases' listed in a trade catalogue issued by the Derby porcelain factory. This was probably published in about 1774, when the Derby management opened showrooms in Covent Garden, London.
Time
William Duesbury (1725-1786), the manager and part-owner of the Derby factory, seems to have reorganized design and production at the factory around 1770. In that year he aquired the prestigious Chelsea porcelain factory, and took on new modellers. Spurred on by the example of the Staffordshire potter Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), he began manufacturing ornamental wares and figures in the new 'antique' or Neo-classical style, entering into competition with Wedgwood in the production of 'antique' vases such as these.