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Candlestick with Venus and Cupid: C.33-1932

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 26 (Lower Marlay)

Titles

Candlestick with Venus and Cupid
Mythological Candlestick

Maker(s)

Factory: Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory

Entities

Categories

Description

Soft-paste porcelain Candlestick with Venus and Cupid, slip cast, with hand-modelled details, lead-glazed, and painted in greyish-blue, green, yellow, flesh pink, pink, puce, orange-red, and pale grey enamels, and gilt.

Soft-paste porcelain Candlestick with Venus and Cupid, slip cast, lead-glazed, and painted in greyish-blue, green, yellow, flesh pink, pink, puce, orange-red, and pale grey enamels, and gilt. The concave underside is unglazed and has a large circular central ventilation hole. The roughly oval base is supported on four double scroll feet. The top of the front is covered with applied flowers and leaves. At the back there is a tall tree with two low lateral branches, and higher up, bocage with green leaves and clusters of small white flowers with yellow centres. At the top it has a forward projection with a hole to take a candle socket. Venus sits in front of the tree with her left arm raised and her right arm round Cupid, who stands to the left of her. He looks up towards her, raising his right arm, leaning back and raising his left leg so that the foot rests on the lowest branch of the tree. On the right of Venus, two doves stand on the side of the tree.

Notes

History note: Unknown before donor, Mrs W.D. (Frances Louisa) Dickson, Bournemouth

Legal notes

Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson

Measurements and weight

Height: 25.7 cm

Place(s) associated

  • London ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1932) by Dickson, W. D. (Frances Louisa), Mrs

Dating

Gold anchor period (1759-69)
18th Century, third quarter#
George III
Circa 1760 CE - 1770 CE

School or Style

Rococo

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of enamels ( greyish-blue, green, yellow, flesh-pink, pink, puce, orange-red, and pale grey) gold
Across Scroll Feet Width 16.2 cm

Materials used in production

presumed lead Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain

Techniques used in production

Slip-casting : Soft-paste porcelain, slip cast, with hand-modelled details, lead-glazed, and painted in greyish-blue, green, yellow, flesh pink, pink, puce, orange-red, and pale grey enamels, and gilt.
Lead-glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: K
  • Location: On the underside at back centre near the edge
  • Method of creation: Incised
  • Type: Mark
  • Text: a gold anchor
  • Location: On the back of the tree
  • Method of creation: Painted in gold
  • Type: Mark

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.33-1932
Primary reference Number: 80559
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 13 October 2020 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Candlestick with Venus and Cupid" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/80559 Accessed: 2024-11-22 00:49:43

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/80559 |title=Candlestick with Venus and Cupid |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 00:49:43|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-80559

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