The Music Lesson

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory|François Boucher|Joseph Willems

ca. 1765 · Soft-paste porcelain · European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

This large and ambitious figure group is one of the most important pieces of porcelain sculpture made at the Chelsea factory, England's premier ceramic manufactory in the mid-eighteenth century. The composition of a shepherd boy teaching a shepherdess to play the flute was derived from an engraving after a work by the French artist Francois Boucher (1703–1770). The skilled porcelain modeler at Chelsea, Joseph Willems (1716–1766), was responsible for realizing the composition in three dimensions.

Artist

Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory|François Boucher|Joseph Willems

Date

ca. 1765

Medium

Soft-paste porcelain

Culture

British, Chelsea

Department

European Sculpture and Decorative Arts

Credit line

Gift of Irwin Untermyer, 1964f