Some notes and images.
The Male Figure is based loosely on the Apollo at Versailles of c.1666 -1675 by Francois Girardon's (1628 - 1715).
The group was sculpted in colaboration with Thomas Regnaudin (1622 - 1706).
The statue of Apollo was originally was accompanied by 7 nymphs. Initially placed in the middle of the Grotto of Thetis, it was later installed in the grotto designed by Hubert Robert in the 18th century.
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The Engraving by Edelinck of 1678.
Images courtesy British Museum.
Newbridge House was built by Archbishop Cobbe between 1747 and 1752 to the design of architect James Gibbs.
The Wall bracket with the figure of Apollo, attributed to John
Cheere, plaster, 1758, with a replica of its pair moulded from the version at Felbrigg Hall,
Cobbe (see below - photo by Alexey Moskvin).
In 1758, during a sojourn in London, the couple had bought
quantities of porcelain, both Chinese and English Bow and Derby. Exceptionally
large Chinese pots decorated in rouge de fer, have Thomas’s initials fired into
the inside of the lids, so were probably a special commission. On their
journeys to Bath they stopped over in Worcester, visiting the newly established
porcelain works and commissioning one of the largest Worcester dessert and
dinner services on record, complete with matching porcelain handles fitted to
Irish cutlery. Some of the many rococo carved gilt looking glasses they had
made, were fitted with little platforms to display porcelain. China figures and
vases were also placed on gilt wall brackets, one incorporating a figure of
Apollo and a swan (doubly appropriate since the Cobbe heraldic devices are
swans). This must have originally had a pair with the figure of winged Victory,
since an original pair survive at Felbrigg; they are attributed to the London
sculptor John Cheere, and therefore the Cobbes probably bought theirs during
the 1758 visit to the capital.
41cm wide, 29cm deep, 60cm high (16in wide, 11in deep,
23.5in high)
Provenance - The Trustees of The Callaly Chattels Settlement, Callaly
Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, sold Christie's House Sale, 22-24 September
1986, lot 114.
"The poetic pattern for this pair of 'Brackets for Bustos' is
likely to have been invented for the 'Cabinet Room' at Felbrigg, Norfolk, which
was designed for William Windham in the 1750s by the architect James Paine (d.
1789), whose 'Picturesque' decoration of the Mansion House, Doncaster was
celebrated by his Plans, Elevations, Sections and other ornaments of the
Mansion House of Doncaster, 1751, (Rococo: Art and Design in Hogarth's England,
Victoria & Albert Museum, Exhibition Catalogue, 1984, nos. S30, S31 and
S55)".
https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-1861502
The Christopher Gibbs Brackets as published in -
'The Plaster Shops of the Rococo and Neo-Classical Era in Britain', T. Clifford, Journal of the History of Collections, 4, No. 1 (1992) p. 41, fig. 2.
The article is available on line - now dated but an useful introduction to the subject.
The bracket of Apollo paired with a figure
of Fame, was sold from the collection of Callaly Castle, Alnwick,
Northumberland, Christie's, 22-24 September 1986, lot 114, and then
subsequently from The Collection of Christopher Gibbs, The Manor House, Clifton
Hampden, Christie's, 25-26 September 2000, lot 365.
Height: 44 cm / 17.5 inches
The Plymouth Porcelain Factory was owned by William Cookworthy, a Quaker and chemist based in Notte St, Plymouth.
Cookworthy had for many years been experimenting with the production of porcelain since he discovered China Clay readily available in Cornwall circa 1755. Cookworthy recieved a patent for hard paste porcelain production on March 17th, 1768. The Plymouth factory is thought to have been located on Coxside, on Sutton Pool in Plymouth although no excavations have proved this conclusively. The factory only ran for two years from 1768-1770 before it moved to Bristol due the larger factory premises there and more easily available fuel for the kiln. Cookworthy ran the Bristol factory in partnership with Bristol merchant Richard Champion.
When Cookworthy retired in 1773, Richard Champion bought the patent for making hard
paste porcelain and Cookworthy's interest in the factory and continued to run
the business until it closed in 1781 with the sale of the patent to the
proprietors of the New Hall China Manufactory.
"Porcelain, probably made at the Vauxhall factory, or
possibly made at Richard Chaffers' Liverpool factory, 1757- 60" but it is odd that given its documented purchase by Lady Charlotte Schrieber and the note in the Journal noted on the website for the bust no consideration was made for its possible production by William Cookworthy at Plymouth.
They say "Bust in white soft-paste porcelain of King George II on a
pedestal with a bowed front with a moulded panel, sculpted by John Cheere,
probably Vauxhall porcelain factory, previously attributed to Richard Chaffers
factory, Liverpool, ca. 1757-1760".
Bracket Height: 27.9cm. Width: 19.4cm.
The bust - Height: 39cm. Width: 29.8cm
Provenance.
Given to the V and A by Lady Charlotte Schreiber
It was acquired as Chelsea porcelain.
Purchased by Lady Charlotte Schreiber from Butti, Edinburgh, for £5 in October 1869.
In her Journals (vol. I, p. 57) she recorded: 'Lady Hopetown took us into Edinburgh to the shop of one Butti in Queen Street.
The
first thing that met the gaze of the delighted C.S. was a Plymouth bust (with
pedestal) of King George II. exactly the same as that which belonged to the
late Dr. Cookworthy of Plymouth, which came to him from the manufacturers and
which he has left as an heirloom in the family. Butti (knowing nothing of its
extreme value) sold it to us for £5.'
Dr Cookworthy was the great nephew of William Cookworthy.
William Cookworthy (1705 – 1780) was born in Kingsbridge Devon into a
Quaker family. When his father died in 1718 the young William was offered a
free apprenticeship with the Bevan brothers, two Quaker apothecaries of Plough Court Lombard St, London.
Once he completed his apprenticeship Cookworthy was taken into the partnership.
Cookworthy moved to Plymouth and set up a Bevan and
Cookworthy pharmacy which was so successful that he was soon able to bring his
two brothers into the business and buy out Bevan. Cookworthy also became one of
the leading Quakers in Devon and was elected an elder.
Cookworthy had many interests including chemistry. He read
with interest the writings of a Jesuit missionary about the Chinese manufacture
of fine translucent porcelain which was increasingly popular in Europe, but the
process was a closely guarded secret. While travelling through Cornwall
Cookworthy saw china clay and began experimenting with its use in the
production of fine china.
In 1768 Cookworthy founded a factory in Plymouth to produce
Plymouth Porcelain, similar to Chinese porcelain but using local materials. He
also took out a patent for the use of Cornish china clay. Records show that the
factory had 2 kilns located near Sutton Harbour and employed 40 – 60 people.
In 1770 Cookworthy moved his factory to Bristol. He sold his
patent to Richard Chapman, a merchant, in 1773. Chapman was unable to renew the
patent as his application was opposed by Wedgwood and other pottery
manufacturers but he was granted rights for 14 years to use Cornish china clay
for the manufacture of translucent porcelain.
For an excellent (despite its early date) in depth study of the Cookworthy / Champion porcelaine factories in Plymouth and Bristol see
Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art vol 8
by RN Worth - Pages 480 - 496 Read at Ashburton July 1876 see -
"When the manufacture had become established, Cookworthy sought artistic help in carrying out these details, and the Plymouth china thenceforth became distinguished not merely for its composition, but for the beauty of its modelling, and the exquisite character of its ornament. Mr. Chaffers believes that the Plymouth works were organized by workmen from Bow, holding that Bow was the first porcelainmanufactory in this country, and the great nursery of potters whence the other works were supplied with workmen.
That the works at the two places had a connection is clear from the fact that busts of George ll., Woodward the actor, and Kitty Clive, first modelled at Bow, were reproduced at Plymouth; and in fact, articles of Bow china have often been sold as unmarked Plymouth.
The modelling of shells and corals for salt-cellars, centre-pieces, &c., is not only very elegant, but marvellously true to nature.
The productions of the Plymouth China Factory included dinner, tea, breakfast, and toilet services, mugs, busts, figures and groups, vases, and various miscellaneous articles.
see also - The History of Ceramic Art in Great Britain: From ..Llewellynn Frederick William Jewitt · pub. 1878. - Page 329
see also the Art-Union: A Monthly Journal of the Fine Arts 1863 - Page 171.
The V and A say -
"The bust is one of a group of sculptural porcelains that have been chemically tested and found to contain soaprock. This mineral was mined under licence in Cornwall.
From documents we know that Richard Chaffers
(1731-1765) of Liverpool was among those who used it as an ingredient in making
porcelain, and he currently seems the most likely manufacturer of the several
versions of this bust".
I say what about / Cookworthy Plymouth.
Bibliographic references -
Daniels, Pat. The Origin and Development of Bow Porcelain
1730-1747, Resurgat Publishers, Oxon, 2012. See pp 271-278 for an alternative
attribution to the Bow porcelain factory for this bracket and the bust of
George II it supports, another similar bust and bracket in the National Museum
of Ireland, Dublin and a further bracket in the British Museum.
Mallet, J.V.G.. Some Baroque sources of English ornamental
porcelains A paper read at the weekend seminar Fire and Form – The Baroque and
its influence on English Ceramics, c. 1660-1760, 26th-27th March 2011,
published English Ceramics Circle, 2013, pp123-146, illustrates the version at
Leeds City Art Galleries, fig. 34, and favours an attribution to the Vauxhall
porcelain factory
For this bracket and bust, and the group to which they
belong, see also Roderick Jellicoe, 'Liverpool Porcelain: Fact or Fiction?',
Northern Ceramic Society Journal, Vpl. 28 (2012), pp. 175-190
1768-1770.
Height: 13.80 centimetres. Length: 27.40 centimetres. Length: 10.80 inches. Depth: 12.60 centimetres
Previously attributed to Bow (Hobson 1905).
The lioness was manufactured as part of a pair with a lion.
They are found both with bases and without (see Plymouth City Museum & Art
Gallery 1932.22A).
Reference is made to the production of such lions in
correspondance about the factory: in a
"You will be please to buy but a few first among those
I w'd wish to have the Couchant Lyons, as their limbs are not detatched and
they are masterly done."
H 15 x W 29 x D 12 cm.
I believe Nineteen examples of this bust of George II (1683-1760) have so far been recorded. The Fitzwilliam's bust lacks both the socle found with some
examples, and the V and A Rococo style wall bracket to support it, which is possibly unique.
Their attribution is contentious. Since the 19th century they been variously
attributed to Chelsea, Plymouth. Bow, Worcester, Chaffers Liverpool, and most
recently Vauxhall.
For the 18th Century Busts of George II see my post - https://english18thcenturyportraitsculpture.blogspot.com/2019/06/george-ii-marble-bust-sothebys-2-july.html
The Fitzwilliam Museum Porcelain Bust of George II.
https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/39296
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The Metropolitan Museum Porcelain Bust of George II.
7 1/16 × 12 5/8 × 6 7/8 in. (17.9 × 32.1 × 17.5 cm)
https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/203305
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Two images from English Ceramic Circle; A
Porcelain Bust of George II. 6 pages, illustrated with coloured photographs. An
article printed in 2009, written by Mavis Bimson.
