Figure group
Samson, Edme et Cie
Category
Ceramics
Date
1880 - 1900
Materials
hard-paste porcelain, polychrome enamels, coloured glazes
Measurements
190 x 155 x 111 mm
Place of origin
Paris
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 205137
Summary
Figure group emblematic of Africa, hard-paste porcelain, painted with polychrome enamels, was made by the Edmé Samson & Cie, Paris, 1880-1900. Modelled in the form of a seated woman in an elephant-head hat with a white shawl and purple skirt, seated on a lion, is an allegorical representation of Africa after an original composition by the Meissen factory. Marked with gold anchor associating it with the wares of the Chelsea porcelain factory.
Full description
This sculptural figural group is a copy of a Meissen original, part of a set representing the four Continents - see The Trevelyan Collection, Wallington Hall (Inv.581962 1-4) for examples of the Meissen originals. In the 18th century these types of figures were made to decorate the table during the dessert course. By the 19th century they had become collectable pieces, adorning chimney pieces and in cabinets. Edmé Samson established his factory in Paris in 1845, and specialised in producing versions of European ceramics including porcelain by Meissen, Sèvres and Chelsea. The original Meissen figures of the Continents are the work of the great porcelain sculptor Johann Joachim Kändler (1706-75) and Johann Friedrich Eberlein (1696-1749). As model-meister, Kändler produced almost 1,000 figural models for Meissen from the late 1730s until his death. In 1745 Empress Elizabeth of Russia commissioned a large unpainted set of the Continents (‘Das Theil der Welt’ or ‘The Parts of the World’). Kändler recorded the production of the models in his work reports in September and October, and he completed Europe the following year. However, a smaller set of the Continents, such as those at Wallington, may already have been in production. The iconography of the personifications of the Continents is taken with little alteration from Iconologia, an emblem book by Cesare Ripa (c.1560-1622) published in Rome in 1603. Africa, resting on a lion, holding a sheaf of corn and a sceptre, and wears a dress and cloak along with an elephant’s mask headdress. The set of the Continents was a symbol of Empire and the wealth of the nations represented. Terminology note. Representations of black-skinned peoples, such as Africa, were, historically, described in factory records and inventories as 'Moors', ‘Blackamoors’ or ‘Black-a-moors’. The term ‘moor’ derives from the Greek work ‘mauros’, meaning ‘black’ or ‘very dark’ and, in the medieval and early modern periods, was an ill-defined stereotype applied to Muslims of the Islamic eastern Mediterranean (Iberian Peninsula and North Africa). Usage developed to conflate Muslims of any ethnicity with black Sub-Saharan Africans.
Provenance
Part of the Bambridge Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by Mrs Elsie Bambridge (1896-1976)
Marks and inscriptions
Reverse of figure: [gold anchor] (imitation Chelsea mark)
Makers and roles
Samson, Edme et Cie , maker