Chamberlain Worcester Porcelain Goblet After Angelia Kauffman Painting

The large goblet has a central oval panel of a woman artist looking forward, her paint palette lies on the floor at her feet.

The complex design has a wide gilt band at the rim with a faux bois design below. Below this is another band, almost like a gold bracelet with diamond shapes with yellow centers connected by white dots surrounded by gold. Small circular panels of hand painted flower bouquets, each with a rose at the center and each surrounded by the faux bois design.

Reference:
The en grisaille panel appears to be inspired by the Angelia Kauffman painting of the figure of Design. This painting is part of a set of the four ‘Elements of Art’ represented by female allegories of Invention, Composition, Design, and Color which were commissioned by the Royal Academy in 1778 to decorate the ceiling of the Academy’s new Council Chamber in Somerset House.

The present painting shows the figure of Design as an imposing allegorical female dressed in white and pale red with a purple mantel (fireplace), seated beside two Roman columns. The figure is copying a fragment of an antique male nude statue, commonly called the belvedere torso. The original statue was first documented in Rome in the 1430s and is now in the Vatican Museum, Rome. However, a cast of this torso was in the Royal Academy’s collection at the time of Kauffman’s commission and was for the use of the students of the Royal Academy Schools.