Figures of the Day: The Chelsea Dessert Figures, 1758-69

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Porcelain Dessert Figures
Joseph Willems for
The Chelsea Porcelain Factory
England, 1758-69
The Victoria & Albert Museum

This handsome pair of porcelain figures represents a gardener and his wife. Like many figures of the Eighteenth Century, these were made to be presented on the dining table during the dessert course. Most were purely decorative—meant to show the wealth and prestige of the household, but sometimes, they were given a purpose. These figures are a great example of that. They hold baskets which would have been employed as a means of serving dry sweetmeats—candied fruit, chocolates, nuts, small biscuits, raisins or other dried fruit.

Typically, these figures, like the ones we see here, depicted idealized representations of gardeners, shepherds and shepherdesses. They were not usually shown in the sort of clothes such people would have really worn, but rather, were depicted as being very fashionably dressed. Often, in the wealthiest homes, lush garden scenes were recreated as an expensive novelty on the dinner table.

The pair we see here, dating to between 1758 and 1769, are the work of the Chelsea Porcelain Factory which produced pieces for the upscale clientele who could have afforded such luxurious pieces. Joseph Willems (1710 – 1766) was probably the modeler.