Cup and saucer
ca. 1760–65
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Height (cup .375a): 1 5/8 in. (4.1 cm); Diameter (saucer .375b): 4 1/2 in. (11.4 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
Italian, Nove
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1906
Accession Number
06.375a, b
Tags
Art Historical Context
This delicate cup and saucer, crafted around 1760–65 by the Le Nove Porcelain Manufactory in Nove, Italy, exemplifies the refined European pursuit of porcelain during the mid-eighteenth century. Made of soft-paste porcelain—a material developed as European makers sought to replicate the luminous quality of prized Chinese hard-paste wares—the set reflects the technical experimentation and artistic ambition of Italian ceramic workshops. Its modest scale, with the cup standing just over an inch and a half tall, suggests it was designed for intimate tea service, a fashionable social ritual among t...