Hen and Chicks Covered Tureen on Stand

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

The ceramic factory at Chelsea, located along the river Thames in western London, was Britain’s most renowned factory of decorative porcelain in the mid-1700s. Large tureens in the form of chickens or rabbits appealed to wealthy aristocrats, who took great care in developing specimen animal and poultry breeds on their country estates. The design for this particular tureen was taken from a popular seventeenth-century print by Francis Barlow depicting a farmyard. Though the form of a soup tureen suggests a functional role at the dining table, such large, expensive porcelains were probably only used for decoration because hot liquids might have easily caused them to crack.