A lively porcelain sculpture is the latest addition to the decorative arts displays in the Holburne’s Ballroom gallery. Head of a Laughing Child was made around 1746-49 at the Chelsea Porcelain Factory shortly after it was founded. It was probably modelled by the renowned sculptor François Roubiliac (1702-1762) who was friends with the Chelsea factory’s proprietor, Nicholas Sprimont (1716-1771). The sculpture is on loan to the Holburne Museum from a private collection. There is a painted porcelain version in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, and a bronze in the V&A. Until recently, the Ashmolean’s version was thought to be the only porcelain one in existence.
It has been suggested that the head is a portrait of Roubiliac’s daughter Sophia, who was also Sprimont’s goddaughter. However it seems more likely that it is based on seventeenth-century Italian models. As part of a recent project with secondary school students from Corsham School, One of the group chose to present to his peers and Holburne colleagues about the Head of a laughing child, which was followed by a lively discussion about whether the portrait represents a girl or boy.
