Cleveland Museum of Art

Figure of a Bird Charmer

Sèvres Porcelain FactoryLinkedCulture matchlcp-b2a5e868c6d8

Date: 1764–66
Medium: Unglazed soft-paste porcelain (biscuit)
Culture: France, Sèvres
Department: Decorative Art and Design
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 136555

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Designs for 17 young children involved in various activities were issued by sculptor Étienne-Maurice Falconet and regularly reproduced as porcelain figurines. This figure, who stretches out his hand in anticipation that a bird might land, would have been modeled after one of these designs. Decorative figurines like these were often included in elaborate dining services to be placed about a table along with the usual tureens and tableware. 31 figures modeled after Falconet’s series were included in the dinner service given by French King Louis XV to Christian VII, King of Denmark in 1768.

View at Cleveland Museum of Art ↗

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.

Get printable QR codes

Open QR codes for this object page and the museum record. They stay collapsed until needed.

Open this page

See at Cleveland Museum of Art

Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: The Norweb Collection

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

18th Century Porcelain Figurines
These objects are decorative ceramic figures and figure groups made from soft-paste or hard-paste porcelain during the 18th century, produced by major European porcelain factories including Meissen, Sèvres, Derby, Chelse
413 objects from 4 institutions

Related across collections

Semantically similar works from Cleveland Museum of Art and other institutions.

Figure of a Mischief Maker

Cleveland Museum of Art

#136566

Child with a dog, holding a basket of grapes, from "Premier Livre de Figures d'après les porcelaines de la Manufacture Royale de France, inventées en 1757, par Mr. Boucher" (First Book of Figures after porcelains from the Manufacture Royale de France, devised in 1757, by Mr. Boucher)