Botanical oval platter with turnip leaf

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory

ca. 1755 · Soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

These botanical plates (2016.217–.226) were produced by the Chelsea factory around 1755 and are often referred to as Chelsea "Hans Sloane" wares, in reference to the royal physician, traveler, and natural historian who helped transform the Chelsea Physic Garden into a center of botanical knowledge during the British Enlightenment. Several subjects depicted on these plates were taken from botanical illustrations published by Philip Miller, curator of Chelsea Physic Garden. Although flowers and fruits could typically be found on earlier porcelain wares from Meissen, the lively naturalism of the Chelsea botanical plates reflects a broadening public interest in the natural world, and evidence the forms of global commerce that brought exotic species from the Caribbean, the Americas, and Asia to England.

Artist

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory

Date

ca. 1755

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration

Culture

British, Chelsea

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Purchase, From the Marion E. and Leonard A. Cohn Collection, Bequest of Marion E. Cohn, by exchange, and Lila Acheson Wallace Gift, 2016