Decorative Arts & Design
Figure of Summer from the Four Seasons
Permanent ExhibitionCeramicsMythology & Allegory
Details
- Author / creator
- Bristol Porcelain Factory (British, 1770–81)
- Object type
- Ceramics
- Date or period
- c. 1775
- Dimensions summary
- Overall: 27 × 15.9 × 11.7 cm
- Maker or workshop
- Bristol Porcelain Factory
- Period / style
- Neoclassical / Regency
- Place of origin
- England
- Acquisition method
- Bequest
- Credit line
- Bequeathed by the Pemberton family, 1917
- Image rights
- Public domain (CC0)
About this object
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 summer is portrayed as a young boy holding a sheaf of wheat as he leans against the beehive next to him. Both grain and honey have been associated with summer harvests and their accompanying festivals since antiquity.
Materials and technique
Hard-paste porcelain
