soup-plate
- Museum number
- 1993,0506.1
- Description
-
Soup plate, earthenware (creamware) with transfer printed and hand printed decoration in Japanese style. This plate features a group of shrimps set asymmetrically in shades of salmonpink with black outlines.
marked
- Production date
- 1868
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 243 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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-
- Curator's comments
- In set with 1993,0506.2
Text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950. A catalogue of the British Museum collection'. 1994, no. 369, (Acquisitions 1991-1993)
A description of Messrs. Borgen & Co.'s Royal Danish Galleries published in Art Journal. 1873, 377, advertises a new line of ornamental and table ceramics painted by two French artists, Léonce Goutard and Pierre Mallet, 'whose services have been exclusively acquired by Messrs. Borgen'. This would explain the special registered backstamp. Little is known of the artists involved or how they came to work for Borgen. Pierre Mallet (d. 1898) worked as a ceramic painter in Paris until 1870, when he fled to London following the Paris Commune and turned to engraving. Léonce Goutard is recorded in the 1860's as a lithographic artist, specialising in birds. (J. Adémar, 'Inventaire du fonds francais après 1800', Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris).
These two plates are from a series of tablewares (M. Batkin, 'Wedgwood Ceramics 1846-1959', London 1982, pl. 197). clearly inspired by Félix Bracquemond's well-known 'service Rousseau' of 1866-7. Commissioned by F.E. Rousseau and decorated with Bracquemnond's designs in the manner of Hokusai, the 'service Rousseau' was shown to great acclaim at the Paris Exhibition of 1867. For a full account of the service, see J.P. Bouillon et al., 'Art, Industrie et Japonisme. Le service 'Rousseau'', exhibition catalogue, Musée d'Orsay, Paris 1988. Borgen's service was no doubt intended as a cheaper version of the celebrated French service, with the cachet of two French artists.
Information supplementary to Rudoe 1994:
A similar service was ordered on Queen Victoria's behalf in 1874, see Sotheby's New York, 'A Celebration of the English Country House', 15 April 2010, lot 5, including a soup bowl with similar decoration of sea shells. The sale catalogue notes that the lot was accompanied by 'a letter dated October 26th, 1874, from Balmoral Castle to Messrs Borgen & Co., ordering a second service similar to one that had already been ordered on behalf of Her Majesty. The letter concludes with a request that the services be ready for Christmas, presumably as both were intended as gifts.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- good
- Acquisition date
- 1993
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1993,0506.1