{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O123722"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O123722/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EB4395/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2010EB4395/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2010EB4395","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O123722/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O123722","accessionNumber":"414:16/A-1885","objectType":"Candlestick","titles":[],"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, by the 16th century allegorical themes had been introduced into these table settings. 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\nThis figure of a kneeling black woman is probably modelled after a Meissen original and has the practical function of serving as a candlestick (with its pair 414:16-1885). The figure wears a long floral robe and a blue sash around her waist. Her arms are raised to a white veil from which flower petals emerge, forming the greasepan of the candlestick. At least 10,000 people of the African diaspora are estimated to have been living in 18th century England, most working as enslaved people used as exoticised motifs as domestic servants for elite families. For their affluent owners these people of the African diaspora were othered and aestheticised, presented as homogenous status symbols who were used to make their hosts look cosmopolitan and global in appearance. She represents a highly exoticised, racist and homogenous view of Africa from a male-dominated colonial Western perspective. ","physicalDescription":"Candlestick of soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and slightly gilded, of a black woman kneeling on her right knee with her arms raised to fountain plumes emerging from her peaked white veil that forms the grease-pan, and she wears a long floral robe with yellow sleeves, open at the chest, with a blue and gold sash tied around her waist, and she is supported on a rococo-scrolled base with applied flowers and foliage.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Bow Porcelain Factory","id":"A1505"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"porcelain","id":"AAT10662"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},{"text":"gilded","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilded","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":["2010EB4395"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"139","id":"THES49874"},"free":"","case":"2","shelf":"5","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Candlestick","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1770","earliest":"1765-01-01","latest":"1774-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"15.9","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Taken from accessions register","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"One of a pair with 414:16-1885 (Sch. I 95); but see also below.\r\nOne of the pair was purchased by Lady Charlotte Schreiber from Eyers, London, for £14 in 1867, and the other was given to her by a Mr Martin in the same year","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Candlestick of soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and slightly gilded, of a black woman kneeling on her right knee with her arms raised to fountain plumes emerging from her peaked white veil, made by Bow Porcelain Factory, London, ca. 1770. This object aestheticizes the exploitation of black people, this is further emphasised by the fact that she is shown in a vulnerable and subservient position.","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"woman","id":"x35642"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["414:16/A-1885"],"accessionNumberNum":"414","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1885,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Schreiber number","id":"THES50279"},"number":"Sch. I 95A"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-08-15","recordCreationDate":"2006-05-05","availableToBook":false}}