Object of the Day, Museum Edition: The Grape Vendor, 1755-1760

The Grape Vendor
1755-1760
The Victoria & Albert Museum

I’ve really taken a shine to the Staffordshire soft-paste polychrome figures. This one at the Victoria & Albert Museum caught my eye.

Here, we see a figure of a grape vendor. Made in soft-paste porcelain, the figure is painted with enamels and slightly gilded. Resting on a Rococo base, it depicts a boy seated on a stump with a basket of grapes on his lap. The base is adorned with large applied flowers and leaves.

In remarkably good condition, the figure is still as bright and brilliant as the day it was made. This figure is part of a large suite of depictions of young people at work.