- Museum number
- 1887,0307,II.165
- Description
-
Snuff-box; soft-paste porcelain; moulded as 'The Lion and the Cock', where a British lion attacks a Gallic rooster or cockerel (cock), the lion is between a flag bearing the cross of St George and another with gold fleur-de-lys; painted in pale colours; inscribed ribbon between the two; rim painted with green leaves and interior decorated with flower sprays; metal mount chased with sacrifice of Isaac on an altar surrounded by rococo scrolls; unmarked.
- Production date
- 1758-1770
- Dimensions
-
Height: 6 centimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Dawson 1987
Bryant (1925) stated that two other examples were known, one of which is probably the one now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York, (64.101.666), illustrated by Y. Hackenbroch, 'Chelsea and other English Porcelain . . . in the Irwin Untermyer Collection', London, 1957, pl. 69, fig. 218. This is unmounted, and has no inscription.
The lion and cockerel were traditional emblems of England and France. For a discussion see Hilary Young, ‘Anti-gallicanism at Chelsea: Protestantism, protectionism and porcelain’, Apollo, Vol. 147, No. 436, June 1998, pp. 35-41.
Honey, revised by Barrett (1979), p. 80, says that the snuffbox reveals Sprimont, a Huguenot, as no lover of France.
The Derby factory described these small moulded boxes in the period covering 1770 and 1773, as snuff-boxes. They were painted at their Chelsea studios and recorded as such, for example: '21 Snuff-boxes of cupid and lamb, £1 4 6'. They were also, however, described as 'patch-boxes' in a sale of a gentleman's effects by Mr. Christie in December 1766, 'Four Chelsea patch boxes neatly mounted £1 7 0' (cited in Bryant, p. 156).
- Location
- On display (G46/dc18)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1987 Jun 10-Jun 15, London, International Ceramics Fair and Seminar Ltd, 'International Ceramics Fair and Seminar'
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Sacrifice of Isaac
- Acquisition date
- 1887
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1887,0307,II.165