Candelabrum with figures of Summer and Autumn (one of a pair)
ca. 1765
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain
Dimensions
9 5/8 × 12 1/2 in. (24.4 × 31.8 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Bow, London
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Accession Number
64.101.710
Tags
Art Historical Context
This elegant candelabrum, one of a pair produced by the Bow Porcelain Factory in London around 1765, exemplifies the vibrant world of 18th-century British ceramics. Crafted from soft-paste porcelain—a pioneering English innovation blending clay, ground glass, and other materials to mimic the prized Chinese hard-paste porcelain—the piece stands at 9⅝ × 12½ inches. Adorned with lively figures representing Summer and Autumn, accompanied by men, women, and blooming flowers, it captures the playful Rococo style popular in Georgian England, where decorative arts graced aristocratic homes. The Bow F...
About the Artist
Bow Porcelain Factory · 1747–1776
The Bow Porcelain Factory, established around 1747 in East London near Bow and relocated by 1749 to "New Canton" east of the River Lea, emerged as one of England's pioneering soft-paste porcelain manufacturers, rivaling the Chelsea factory. Founded by merchant Edward Heylyn and Irish painter Thomas Frye, who secured key patents in 1744 and 1748–49 for using Cherokee kaolin and bone ash, the factor...