Cup and Saucer (Tasse et soucoupe)
c. 1775–95
Medium
hard-paste porcelain with underglaze blue decoration
Classification
Ceramic
Department
Decorative Art and Design
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
The Norweb Collection
Accession Number
1964.505
Tags
About this artwork
Early French porcelain factories produced ceramics called soft-paste porcelain. Without the addition of the ingredient kaolin, they could not produce the prized hard-paste porcelain of China and Japan. The Chantilly Porcelain Factory only produced hard-paste porcelain in the last decade of the 1700s. Applying the same techniques used on soft-paste to the new hard-paste formula was difficult, which may account for this object’s slightly grayish color and rough blue decoration.
About the Artist
Chantilly Porcelain Factory (French)
Georges Hugnet (1906–1974) was a multifaceted French artist, poet, writer, and critic whose innovative collages and graphic works bridged Dada and Surrealism. Born in Paris on July 11, 1906, he spent much of his early childhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina, returning to France around 1913. His early life and artistic training remain sparsely documented, with no records of formal art school attendanc...