Cupid dressed as a Lady's Maid: C.99-1950

Current Location: Gallery 26 (Lower Marlay)

Titles

Cupid dressed as a Lady's Maid

Maker(s)

Factory: Derby Porcelain Factory
Proprietor: William Duesbury & Co.

Entities

Figure

Description

Soft-paste porcelain figure of Cupid dressed as a Lady's Maid, and holding a powder puff and box, painted in enamels

Soft-paste porcelain figure of Cupid, slip-cast, lead-glazed, and painted overglaze in blue, turquoise, green, pink, a little red, pale-brown, and black enamels, and gilt. The underside is unglazed and has a large circular ventilation hole surrounded by three patch marks and brown accretions which extend inside the hole. The circular low mound base is decorated round the edge with rocaille frills and scrolls picked out in turquoise and gold respectively, and has at the back a pale green tree stump. The Cupid stands on his left leg, supported by the stump, and has his right foot advanced. He looks towards the viewer’s left, and holds a powder pink bowl in its left hand, and a puff in its right. It has pale brown hair, eyebrows and eyes, pink cheeks, red lips, and white wings. It wears a white cap, a flounced sleeves (no bodice), an apron with a blue edging at the bottom, and black shoes.

Notes

History note: Uncertain before donor, Mrs W.D. (Frances Louisa) Dickson, Bournemouth

Legal notes

Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson

Measurements and weight

Depth: 5.3 cm
Height: 10.8 cm
Width: 5.5 cm

Relative size of this object

What does this represent?

Relative size of this object is displayed using code inspired by Good Form and Spectacle's work on the British Museum's Waddeson Bequest website and their dimension drawer. They chose a tennis ball to represent a universally sized object, from which you could envisage the size of an object.

Place(s) associated

Derby ⪼ Derbyshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1950-09) by Dickson, W. D. (Frances Louisa), Mrs

Dating

18th century
George III
Circa 1775 CE - 1780 CE

Note

This model was one of 'Seventeen Figures of Cupid in Disguise' in numbered 262-278 inHaslem's 'Price List of Groups and Figures' made by the Derby Factory,but not differentiated. It was derived from a larger Meissen prototype, reproduced on smaller scale at Chelsea. See Documentation, Burollet, 1983.

School or Style

Rococo

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of enamels ( pale turquoise, green, pink, a little red, greyish-brown, and black) gold

Materials used in production

presumed lead Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain

Techniques used in production

Slip-casting : Soft-paste porcelain, slip-cast, lead-glazed, and painted overglaze in shades of pale turquoise, green, pink, a little red, greyish-brown, and black enamels, and lightly gilt.
Lead-glazing