Kitty Clive as 'The Fine Lady' in Lethe
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Title/s | Kitty Clive as 'The Fine Lady' in Lethe |
Maker/s | Bow Porcelain Manufactory (factory)
Mosely, Charles after (printer)
Worlidge, Thomas after (painter) [ULAN info: British artist, 1700-1766]
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Category |
soft-paste porcelain
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Name |
figure
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School/Style |
Rococo |
Description | Soft-paste porcelain containing bone ash, figure of Kitty Clive as 'The Fine Lady' in Lethe, press-moulded, and lead-glazed. Soft-paste porcelain containing bone ash, figure of Kitty Clive as 'The Fine Lady' in Lethe, press-moulded and lead-glazed, including the inside walls of the pedestal. The figure is supported on a high square pedestal with cut corners and incurved sides, decorated on the front with a musical trophy in relief, and on the sides with frilling. 'The Fine Lady' stands facing the front, with her head back. She wears a pinner, a ruffle round her neck, a pet-en-lair jacket with a sack back, ruffled sleeves, and small bobbles on the cuffs and front edges, and a wide hooped skirt. She rests her left arm over the skirt and holds a lapdog under her right arm. The date '1750' is incised on the inside of one side of the pedestal. |
Production Notes | The Dublin-born actress, Catherine Clive (née Rafter, 1711-85), known as Kitty, joined the cast of Garrick's farce, Lethe as Mrs Riot or 'The Fine Lady' in 1749.The Bow model of Kitty was derived from a mezzotint of 1750 by Charles Mosely, traditionally said to be after a water-clour drawing by Thomas Worlidge. For an illustration of the mezzotint, see Documentation, Yarborough, 1996. |
Production Place | Stratford-le-Bow (factory) (place) Essex (factory) (county) England (factory) (country) English (factory) (nationality) England (printer) (country) () |
Technique Description | soft-paste porcelain containing bone ash, press-moulded, and lead-glazed |
Dimensions |
height: (whole): 31.3
cm
width: (skirt): 17.3
cm
width: (base): 15.0
cm
depth: (base): 13.7
cm
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Period | mid-18th Century
George II
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Date | dated 1750 |
Provenance |
given:
Dickson, W.D., Mrs 1938 (Filtered for: Applied Arts collection) Mr Mansell, Bournemouth; Mrs W.D. Dickson
Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson
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Inscriptions/Marks | -
label
Position:
Method: inscribed in blue biro
Content: 40
Description: circular inscribed in blue biro
Interpretation:
-
label
Position:
Method: printed in black
Content: FITZ/MUS
Description: circular
Interpretation:
-
date
Position: inside one side of the pedestal
Method: incised
Content: 1750
Interpretation: date of manufacture
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Documentation | - Tait, Hugh (1959) Bow Porcelain 1744-1776, A Special Exhibition of Documentary Material to Commemorate the Bi-centenary of the Retirement of Thomas Frye, London [page: p. 25] Oct-April 1959-60)
[comments: Publ. p. 25, no. 40, and figs. 18 and 19] - Tait, Hugh Some Consequences of the Bow Porcelain Special Exhibition, Part I: The Alderman Arnold Period (Nov 1748-March 1750), [page: pp. 40-4]
Source title: Apollo (February 1960)
[comments: Publ. pp. 40-44, on p. 41, fig. II] - Antiques, 1960, 1960)
[comments: Publ.] - Coutts, Howard (2001) The Art of Ceramics, European Ceramic Design 1500-1830, New Haven and London: Yale University Press [page: p. 150]
[comments: Publ. p. 150, pl. 183] - Bradshaw, Peter (1992) Bow Porcelain Figures circa 1748-1774, London: Barrie & Jenkins
[comments: Ref. This figure on a low base is A1 in Bradshaw's list of Bow figures, see p. 88. There are several examples on high pedestal bases, of which this example is of outstanding importance because it is dated '1750'. For information on Kitty Clive see p. 50.] - Yarborough, Raymond C. (1996) Bow Porcelain and the London Theatre: vivitur ingenio, Hancock, Michigan: Front and Center Publications [page: pp. 20-6]
[comments: Ref. For an illustration of the mezzotint by Charles Mosely, see p. 21, fig. 31, and see pp. 20-26 for Kitty Clive and Lethe.] - Hobson, R.L. (1905) Catalogue of the Collection of English Porcelain in the Department of British and Mediaeval Antiquities and Ethnography of the British Museum, London [page: p. 9]
[comments: Cf. An example on high pedestal, see p. 9, I.6, and pl. 2] - Sotheby's (1961) Fine English Pottery and Porcelain, 14th February 1961, London?14th February 1961)
[comments: Cf. A model on high pedestal, lot 73] - Sotheby's (1985) English Enamels and British and Irish Ceramics, London: Sotheby's 22 October 1985)
[comments: Cf. A model on high pedestal, lot 113. Estimate £3-5,000 although damaged] - Begg, Patricia (2000) A Treasury of Bow, A Survey of the Bow Factory from First Patent until Closure 1744-1774, Victoria: Ceramics and Glass Circle of Australia [page: p. 21]
[comments: Cf. A model on a high pedestal in an Australian private collection, p. 21, no. 9, where the Fitzwilliam's example is mentioned.] - Klaber, Pamela (2003) Klaber & Klaber, Rare Antique Porcelain & Enamels, Summer Catalogue 2003, London: Klaber & Klaber
[comments: Cf. No. 12, an example on low base, with an illustration of a painting of Kitty Clive in the role of the Fine Lady by Pieter van Bleeck. The authors state that the figure was after an engraving by Thomas Mosely which 'is by traidtion taken from a pastel on paper by Thomas Worlidge', and in note 7 state that this is in the Lewis Walpole Library, Farmington, Connecticut (Yale University), and thank Anton Gabszewicz for this information.]
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Other Notes | The Dublin-born actress, Catherine Clive (née Rafter, 1711-85), known as Kitty, joined the cast of Garrick's farce Lethe as Mrs Riot or 'The Fine Lady' in 1749. |
Accession Number | EC.3-1938 (Applied Arts)
(Reference Number: 41984; Input Date: 2002-02-15 / Last Edit: 2011-07-22) |
Related Object | C.3026B-1928 - Henry Woodward as 'The Fine Gentleman' in Lethe
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