Chelsea Porcelain Works

British; English, active c. 1745-1769

Sauce boat, stand, c. 1755

Soft-paste porcelain

Collection of the Winnipeg Art Gallery; The Ruby Ashdown Collection of Decorative Art

2009-257.1 and 2

Categories:

Ceramic, Decorative Arts Ceramic

Until the mid-eighteenth century, China and Japan enjoyed a monopoly on the porcelain market, as England and continental Europe had not yet discovered the paste formula for the delicate white wares. While searching for the formula for true or “hard-paste” porcelain in the early eighteenth century, British potters discovered an alternative soft-paste formula that used ground glass instead of fusible rock. Among the earliest producers of soft-paste porcelain was Chelsea. For a short period, Chelsea dominated the market with its luxurious porcelains inspired by Asian and Continental European ceramics. The latter influence is evidenced here in the WAG’s sauceboat and stand of leaf forms, whimsically decorated on the top as well as the underside with puce molded veins and green stalks. The stand supports a sauceboat with an angular stalk handle, applied and molded with strawberry blooms and buds.