cup;
saucer
- Museum number
- Franks.128
- Description
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Cup and saucer, porcelain, glazed, with prunus branches in relief on the outer surface, decorated with a design scratched with a diamond-tipped tool and filled-in withlamp black or charcoal. In the centre of the saucer is a fruiting branch with a bird and a scallop shell On the cup are two birds and branches; thin scrolled handle; maker's mark.
- Production date
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1745 (circa)
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1745-1774 (decoration)
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 13 centimetres (saucer)
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Height: 4.50 centimetres (cup)
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Canon August Otto Ernst von dem Busch of Hildesheim (1704-1779) in Lower Saxony, North Germany, specialized in decorating porcelain in this distinctive technique. The designs were incised through the glaze with a diamond-tipped tool, and then he rubbed lamp black or charcoal into the incisions. Lamp black or soot was a pigment made from carbon derived from burning vegetable matter or mineral substances. The pieces were not intended for use, as the pigment would wash away if soaked. The porcelain was purchased as blanks, perhaps factory seconds, and typically of much older design. He usually signed and dated his work, which helps to establish that he was active between 1745 and 1774, as a tureen in the Hans Syz Collection, in the National Museum of American History, is signed “Busch 1774.”
- Location
- Not on display
- Condition
- Some of the black rubbed off saucer.
- Acquisition date
- 1897
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- Franks.128
