Cleveland Museum of Art

Figure of Winter from the Four Seasons

Bristol Porcelain FactoryLinkedCulture matchlcp-9b28360a299b

Date: c. 1775
Medium: hard-paste porcelain
Culture: England, Bristol
Department: Decorative Art and Design
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 97975

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

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 winter is portrayed as a young boy wearing ice skates, a fur-lined jacket, and a hat adorned with holly branches. In his satchel he carries a goose and rabbit, both of which are commonly hunted in the winter. Allegorical figures most often decorated a table during the dessert course, providing amusing subjects for conversation.

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness
Provenance: ?-1916: Mary Warden Harkness [1864-1916], New York, NY, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1917-: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

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

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