sweetmeat dish

Chelsea Porcelain Factory c 1745 - c 1770

Summary

Dish, soft paste porcelain, leaf form enamelled overglaze in pink and green with insects.

Display Label

Shape Shapes are often defined by their function: a teapot must have a handle and a spout. But by breaking away from the usual conventions designers and makers can reveal new possibilities, create new forms and make us think again. They can transform the teapot into a pineapple, or a simple, curvaceous, abstract shape. Through time, makers have used their imagination, their ingenuity and even their sense of humour to transform ordinary and everyday objects into appealing shapes inspired by our surroundings. Some shapes are designed to reflect their use, others are made as a novelty or decorative item: cows for a cream jug, giraffes for a mantelpiece. Many are created out of a desire to experiment, to see what can be done with different materials. This display brings together a menagerie of shapes showing the possibilities available to the maker.