New photography by Pat Cagney captured with a digital camera.

Shell-Form Pickle or Sweetmeat Stand

Manufacturer Worcester Porcelain Company (British)

CultureEnglish

Dateca. 1775

MediumPorcelain

Dimensions11 1/4 in. (28.6 cm)

Credit LineOn loan from the City of Norfolk, gift of Elise and Henry Clay Hofheimer II

Object numberL2005.10.260

On View

Chrysler Museum of Art, Gallery 112, Case 6

DescriptionThis is a Worcester shell-form pickle or sweetmeat stand. It is formed by three tiers of three graduated and fluted scallop shell-shaped dishes surmounted by a similarly fluted bowl with a scalloped and barbed rim, all supported around a central core applied with a mass of naturalistically molded and gilt-heightened small shells, iron-red coral, and green moss rising from a similarly applied triangular base. The bow and each of the dishes is painted in shades of rose, purple, yellow, and green in the manner of the "Spotted Fruit Painter" with a central cluster of fruit and leaves surrounded by smaller fruit sprigs issuing from the gilt rococo-scroll-edged green border around the interior and exterior of the gilt-edged scalloped rim.The decorations are probably all of a later date: the green borders have a dry or overfired appearancem two upper and one lower shell have been repaired, one middle and all lower shells have a crack issuing from the central core.
ProvenanceHenry Clay Hofheimer, II