{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O123593"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O123593/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EC4861/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EC4861/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EC4861","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O123593/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O123593","accessionNumber":"C.943-1919","objectType":"Figure","titles":[{"title":"Africa","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"The earliest porcelain figures were made for the dessert course of grand dinners and replaced the sugar paste and wax figures made since medieval times for royal feasts. Originally intended as expressions of dynastic power and to celebrate political allegiances, allegorical themes had been introduced into these table settings by the 16th century . By the 18th century many were entirely decorative. Meissen in Germany was the first factory to make porcelain figures for the dessert. It set the sculptural conventions followed by porcelain factories elsewhere.\r\n\r\nThe convention for depicting the Four Continents as female figures was used as early as the Counter-Reformation to symbolise the worldwide spread of Catholic Christendom. The figures were given wider appeal through their inclusion in the <i>Iconologia</i> of Cesare Ripa, an illustrated book of emblems widely used by artists from the early 17th century. ‘Africa’ was conventionally depicted as a black woman ‘almost naked’ wearing a necklace of coral, carrying a scorpion in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left. A lion often accompanied her.","physicalDescription":"Porcelain figure of a standing black female figure naked but for a headdress and sash of feathers. She has a gold bangle on her right arm and holds a necklace of white beads in her right hand. In her left she holds a piece of coral. She stands on a white base supported by an elephant's tusk behind her.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Eberlein, Johann Friedrich","id":"A8360"},"association":{"text":"modeller","id":"AAT25417"},"note":"probably"}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Meissen porcelain factory","id":"A9173"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"AAT25230"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"hard paste porcelain","id":"AAT10663"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"AAT54216"},{"text":"gilt","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Hard-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and gilt","categories":[{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Figures & Decorative ceramics","id":"THES48954"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2010EC4861"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"139","id":"THES49874"},"free":"","case":"23","shelf":"5","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Meissen","id":"x35076"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1745-1750","earliest":"1740-01-01","latest":"1750-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Miss Florence Augusta Beare in memory of Arthur Doveton Clarke","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"15.3","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Figure of black woman representing 'Africa', hard-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilt, probably modelled by J. F. Eberlein, made by Meissen porcelain factory, Germany, ca. 1745-1750","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"Africa","id":"x29327"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"allegory","id":"AAT55866"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["C.943-1919"],"accessionNumberNum":"943","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1919,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2006-05-03","availableToBook":false}}