Triple moon flask with fretwork center (one of a pair)
ca. 1880
Medium
Bone china
Dimensions
confirmed: 5 × 8 3/4 × 3 3/16 in. (12.7 × 22.2 × 8.1 cm)
Classification
Ceramics-Porcelain
Culture
British, Worcester
Department
European Sculpture and Decorative Arts
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Helene Fortunoff and Robert Grossman, 2017
Accession Number
2018.62.78
Art Historical Context
This exquisite *Triple moon flask with fretwork center*, produced by the renowned Worcester factory around 1880, exemplifies the pinnacle of Victorian-era British porcelain craftsmanship. Crafted from bone china—a translucent, durable material made with bone ash that became a hallmark of English ceramics—this piece measures a graceful 5 × 8 3/4 × 3 3/16 inches. Its distinctive "triple moon" form, evoking traditional Chinese flask shapes with three rounded lobes, reflects the era's fascination with Eastern motifs amid Britain's imperial trade networks. The fretwork center, a delicate openwork c...
About the Artist
Worcester factory · 1751–2008
The Worcester porcelain factory, established in 1751 in Worcester, England, by physician Dr. John Wall and apothecary William Davis along with 14 partners, marked the birth of one of Britain's most enduring ceramic enterprises. Investing £4,500 at Warmstry House on the River Severn, the founders drew on contacts with the Bristol porcelain manufactory to develop a novel soft-paste porcelain using s...