Gift Of Rare Chealsea Figurine

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 18, 22 January 1937, Page 2

Gift Of Rare Chealsea Figurine

LONDON.—In the china factory of Chelsea, ISO years ago, an artist modelled a delicate figure of a nurse and child—only one of many models he made under the watchful eyes of his manager, Nicolas Sprimont. To-day his dainty china piece stands in a glass case, a masterpiece, rare, priceless, preserved for the world to appreciate. This porcelain figure is the rarest and most precious of latest acquisitions to the Victoria and Albert Museum here, the gift of Signora A. Cardinale-Top-hain, generous Italian donor of other works of art, who gave this last pieco before returning to her native land from Britain. None know who the modeller was. His name has disappeared. No exact date can be given to his work. But so fine is the porcelain in texture, that experts knew it was modelled some time between 1750 and 1755, in the finest years of the Chelsea factory. A red anchor marked in an angle of the base bears out the evidence of its art, placing it in this period—the red anchor period of Chelsea china—so highly favoured by collectors of English porcelain. At this time the work was done with a special porcelain mixture, since discarded. In modern days it is considered too difficult to work in. It was really an opaque glass and gave, when baked, a beautiful finish, smooth, delicate and consistent. Extremely rare and so delicately made, the figure has come, the museum declares, as “a welcome accession to the museum collections."