Clock case
Chelsea Porcelain Factory (1744-1769)
Category
Ceramics
Date
1761
Materials
Porcelain
Measurements
299 mm (Height)
Place of origin
Chelsea
Order this imageCollection
Hanbury Hall, Worcestershire
NT 413370
Summary
A rare Chelsea Sunflower table clock case, soft paste porcelain, enamelled and gilt, London, circa 1760-65. Mark: gold-painted anchor. The elaborate Rococo asymetrical base and back with architectural features is encrusted with naturalistic flowers, and modelled as a nosegay or bunch of flowers, the clock dial forming the centre of a sunflower flanked by realistically modelled flowers and leaves, including anemone, roses, dianthus, primula auricula and tulips, the stems drawn together towards the heavily scrolled base which is picked out in puce, turquoise and gold, the reverse similarly scrolled and painted with a floral spray. The clock movement is a later replacement. A sunflower clock is documented in the 1761 sale of the Chelsea Factory, 1st day, lot 58: ‘A Fine table clock in a case of a bunch of flowers, curiously enamelled, the movement by Fladgate'. Another example is in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, accession number: 30.353, illustrated by Elizabeth Adams, Chelsea porcelain (1987) p.185, pl.133; another offered at Bonham’s, 3 October 2012, lot 61. 27.7 cm., was exhibited in the V and A's exhibition Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England (1984), cat no. O43.
Makers and roles
Chelsea Porcelain Factory (1744-1769), maker