id: 97972 accession number: 1917.611.1 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1917.611.1 updated: 2023-08-30 11:07:59.732000 Figure of Autumn from the Four Seasons, c. 1775. Bristol Porcelain Factory (British, 1770–81). Hard-paste porcelain; overall: 28.4 x 16.2 x 13.7 cm (11 3/16 x 6 3/8 x 5 3/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness 1917.611.1 title: Figure of Autumn from the Four Seasons title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1775 creation date earliest: 1770 creation date latest: 1780 current location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts creditline: Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness copyright: --- culture: England, Bristol technique: hard-paste porcelain department: Decorative Art and Design collection: Decorative Arts type: Ceramic find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Bristol Porcelain Factory (British, 1770–81) - maker Benjamin Lund produced soft-paste porcelain known as Lund's Bristol Ware between 1749 and 1752. When William Cookworthy (1705-1784) moved his pottery works to Bristol from Plymouth, he began to produce England's first hard-paste porcelain. The works were soon transferred to his factory manager then partner Richard Champion (1743-1791), who directed the factory until its demise around 1782. --- measurements: Overall: 28.4 x 16.2 x 13.7 cm (11 3/16 x 6 3/8 x 5 3/8 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries opening date: 1934-11-09T05:00:00 Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 2, 1934). title: British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020) opening date: 2020-06-30T04:00:00 British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * No legacy exhibitions. --- PROVENANCE Mary Warden Harkness [1864-1916], New York, NY, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-1916 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1917- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: Allegorical figures most often decorated a table during the dessert course, providing amusing subjects for conversation. digital description: The modern notion of childhood as a time of innocence and simplicity emerged during the second half of the eighteenth century. This understanding of adolescence led to numerous depictions of children as personifications of the four seasons. Here autumn is portrayed as a young girl playfully jostling her overskirt as she balances a basket of fruit against her hip. The grapes, plums, and apples filling her basket allude to a plentiful fall harvest. wall description: Allegorical figures most often decorated a table during the dessert course, providing amusing subjects for conversation. In this group depicting the four seasons, a young boy in ice skates represents winter; a young lady adorns her hair with flowers in spring; a young man guards his beehive in summer; and a girl gathers fruit in autumn. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned: cat. no. 267 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n55 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.611.1/1917.611.1_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.611.1/1917.611.1_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1917.611.1/1917.611.1_full.tif