Smell, from a set of Chinoiserie Senses: C.26-1973

Titles

Smell, from a set of Chinoiserie Senses

Maker(s)

Factory: Derby Porcelain Factory
Proprietor: Planché, Andrew

Entities

• Figure group

Categories

• Soft-paste porcelain

Description

Soft-paste porcelain figure of a Chinese woman smelling a flower, accompanied by a boy seated on a low table beside him.

Soft-paste porcelain figure group, of creamy tone, slip-cast, and lead-glazed, with dry-edge. The unglazed underside has a circular ventilation hole under the figure. On the viewer's left of the circular, low mound base, is a table with two pots of flowers under it. On the right, Smell represented by an elegant Chinese woman stands on her left leg with her right leg forward, holding a flower in his left hand which she raises towards her face. Her right arm is extended to the side She wears a two-tiered pointed hat with a wavy edge, and a long gown with a short jacket over it which is tied round the waist with a sash. A Chinese boy sits on the table with his back to the viewer. He looks up towards the woman and holds up his right arm. He is bareheaded and barefooted, and wears a floppy collar, a jacket, and wide-legged short trousers. A pot of flowers is perched precariously on his lap

Notes

History note: Dr and Mrs Hugh Statham (died respectively 1967 and 1970); executors of the Statham estate

Legal notes

Purchased with the Cunliffe Fund and grant-in-aid from the Victoria and Albert Museum

Place(s) associated

• Derby ⪼ Derbyshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1973) by Statham Estate

Dating

18th Century, Mid
George II
Circa 1752 CE - 1755 CE

Note

One of a set of five Chinoiserie groups representing the Senses described by Arthur Lane in 1961 as 'among the most impressive and original of early English porcelain figure-models'. The sex of the main figure is uncertain. It was accessioned as a woman, but although the costume appears feminine, the face more like a young man's.

School or Style

Chinoiserie
Rococo