Nosegay
ca. 1750–55
Medium
Soft-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Overall: 4 5/8 × 1 3/4 in. (11.7 × 4.4 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, London
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964
Accession Number
64.101.682a, b
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the elegant world of-18th-century British with *Nosegay*, a soft-paste porcelain bouquet crafted by the Saint James's Factory in London 1750–55. Measuring just 4 5/8 × 1 3/4 inches, this petite sculpture captures a cluster of delicate flowers, evoking the intimate "nosegay" posies carried as fashion accessories or gifts during the Rococo era. Its small scale made it perfect for adorning mantelpieces or dressing tables in fashionable homes. Soft-paste porcelain, a hallmark of early English ceramics, blended clay, ground glass, and soapstone to mimic the prized Chinese hard-paste porc...
About the Artist
Saint James's Factory · 1749–1759
**Saint James's Factory: A Jewel in Early English Porcelain** The Saint James's Factory, a pioneering British porcelain manufactory, emerged in London around 1749 under the direction of Charles Gouyn, a Huguenot jeweler from Dieppe who died in 1785. Operating from premises near the Turk's Head on Bennett Street in St. James's until about 1759, Gouyn had previously collaborated with Nicholas Sprim...