Allegorical Figure of Africa
1770/80
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain with polychrome enamels and gilding
Dimensions
Basediam: Diam.: 12 cm (4 3/4 in.); H.: 25.1 cm (9 7/8 in.)
Classification
sculpture
Department
Applied Arts of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
129397
Art Historical Context
Step into the opulent world of 18th-century English porcelain with the *Allegorical Figure of Africa*, crafted by the renowned Derby Porcelain Manufactory around 1770–80. Standing at nearly 10 inches tall on a 4¾-inch base, this soft-paste porcelain sculpture exemplifies the factory's mastery during its golden Chelsea-Derby era. Derby, founded in 1750, rivaled continental leaders like Meissen and Sèvres, producing finely detailed figures for the elite homes of Georgian England. Personifying the continent of Africa—a popular motif in European decorative arts—this figure reflects the Enlightenm...
About the Artist
Derby Porcelain Manufactory · 1751–1785
The Derby Porcelain Manufactory stands as one of the foundational institutions of British ceramic art, producing some of the finest figures and tablewares made in England during the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Its origins can be traced to the work of André Planché, a Huguenot immigrant from Saxony who settled in Derby around 1745 and began producing soft-paste porcelain figures and ...