c222: Group of Time Clipping the Wings of Love
View additional and larger photos
© The Holburne Museum of Art, Bath
| Museum number | c222 |
| Title | Group of Time Clipping the Wings of Love |
| Object type | In category: Sculpture » sculptural group |
| Date | Circa 1773 |
| People |
Attributed to Derby porcelain factory (English porcelain factory, established 1756) - Manufacturer(s) |
| Place of origin | Europe » Northern Europe » British Isles » Great Britain » England |
| Condition |
Good |
| Dimensions |
13.4 cm width whole 23.35 cm height whole |
| Materials & techniques |
In category:
Ceramic
»
Porcelain
»
Soft-paste porcelain
|
| Description |
Porcelain group depicting Time as a winged and bearded old man with his lower body partially covered by drapery decorated with sprays of flowers and gilding. He holds a pair of shears in his right hand and is about to clip the wings of Cupid whom he holds in his lap. A skull, coronet, hourglass, scythe, quiver of arrows and a globe lie beneath the figures' feet on an elaborate scrollwork base. Enamelled in colours and gilded. |
||||||
| Marks and inscriptions |
|
||||||
| Style |
Rococo
|
||||||
| Subject |
Allegory |
||||||
| Notes | This allegorical group appears to have been one of Sir William Holburne's most treasured pieces. The 1874 inventory lists it 'On centre table' in the Back Drawing Room and it was included in a portrait photograph of Holburne taken towards the end of his life. The group is unmarked and Holburne believed it to have been made in the Chelsea Porcelain Factory. However, it is now thought to have been made in the Derby Porcelain Factory during the so-called Chelsea-Derby period (1770-1784). During this time both the Chelsea and Derby factories were owned and run by William Duesbury I (1725-1786) and it is difficult to distinguish their work. The model Time Clipping Cupid's Wings appears in the catalogue of the first public sale of Chelsea and Derby pieces at Christie's, London on 18 April 1771 (lot 25), when it sold for £1 16s. and again on 17 April 1780 when it sold for 11s. 6d. A Derby Factory price list shows that the group was available in three different sizes, glazed or unglazed. The group may have been modelled by Pierre Stephan, chief modeller for the combined Chelsea and Derby factories during the early 1770s. The composition is derived from Time clipping Cupid's wings painted by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, 1630-32 and now in the Musée Jacquemart-Andre, Paris. | ||||||
| Muse theme | The Art of Collecting |
||||||
| Muse chapter |
Sir William Holburne's collection » Introduction » The Holburne Collection
The History of the Holburne Collection » Sir William Holburne and his Collection » Arranging the Collection: Sir William at Home The History of the Holburne Collection » The Collection » Ceramics |
||||||
| Gallery Label |
TWO SCULPTURE GROUPS, "TIME CLIPPING THE WINGS OF LOVE", "NEPTUNE" English, Chelsea-Derby, c. 1775.Soft-paste porcelain decorated in enamel colours. Two of Sir William Holburne's favourite pieces. C222, 228(Unknown) 3-2004 |
||||||
| Method of acquisition | Bequest | ||||||
| Provenance | Thomas William Holburne (1793-1874); by whom bequeathed to Mary Anne Barbara Holburne (1802-1882), by whom bequeathed to the Museum |
||||||
| Exhibition history |
Title of exhibition: Holburne One hundred: an exhibition to commemorate the Centenary of the Museum's opening and the Bic Title of exhibition: Town House Treasures: Sir Thomas William Holburne of Bath |
