Mermaid supporting a Shell Dish
Factory: Doccia Porcelain Factory
Hard-paste porcelain painted in enamels
Hard-paste porcelain, moulded, tin-glazed, and painted in blue, green, yellow, puce, reddish-brown, brown, and a little dark brown enamels; the underside has a small circular ventilation hole. The mermaid is supported on a rectangular base with rounded corners and a scrolled edge painted blue and puce. Her front half is sphinx like, and she has long brown hair, dark brown eyes and pale red lips, two green fins on her back, and a green-edged tail which curves upwards to support a shell dish,which is also supported by her backward tilting head. The shell is outlined in puce and blue and has a green leaf at the hinge end. The interior is striped horizontally in puce, yellow and reddish-brown.
History note: Uncertain before Mrs W.D. (Frances Louisa Dickson)
Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson
Height: 7.6 cm
Height: 3 in
Width: 8.5 cm
Width: 3 5/16 in
Method of acquisition: Given (1950-09) by Dickson, W. D. (Frances Louisa), Mrs
18th Century, third quarter#
Circa
1760
CE
-
1770
CE
Shell dishes supported by marine monsters may have been used as salts, and were associated with centrepieces. There are two comparable examples in the Victoria and Albert Museum (C.31-1910 and C.32-1910). This type of ornamental tableware was attributed to Capodimonte in the 19th and early 20th century.
Decoration composed of enamels ( blue, green, yellow, puce, reddish-brown, and dark brown)
Hard-paste porcelain
Tin-glaze
Press-moulding
: Hard-paste porcelain, moulded in parts, glazed, and painted in blue, green, yellow, puce, reddish-brown, and dark brown enamels
Tin-glazing
Accession number: C.78-1950
Primary reference Number: 140364
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Mermaid supporting a Shell Dish" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/140364 Accessed: 2024-11-02 20:20:15
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/140364
|title=Mermaid supporting a Shell Dish
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 20:20:15|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-140364
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