{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O77870"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O77870/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM6092/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM6092/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM6092","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006BC7242","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019MD0436","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2018KX4235","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O77870/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O77870","accessionNumber":"C.176&A-1940","objectType":"Tureen","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"<b>Object Type</b><br>The tureen was probably for serving stewed fruit or other sweet foodstuffs during the dessert course. Other similar Chelsea tureens are known from factory sale catalogues to have been used for the dessert, and some of these match the 'English China ... Melons and Leaves for a Dessert of Fruit and Cream, or the like' that Benjamin Franklin sent his wife in 1758. The dessert was the final stage of a grand dinner, and during the 18th century it was the course on which the greatest effort and expense was lavished. Dessert wares of fine porcelain were costly and fragile, and they satisfied the same taste for artifice and luxury as the fruit and confectionery they were made to serve. Being hygienic and odour-free, ceramics were favoured above silver and other metals for serving the dessert. The tureen would have originally had a stand.<br><br><b>Marketing</b><br>Similar tureens were included in the Chelsea porcelain factory's auctions held in London in the mid-1750s. The London sale of 1756 included several pairs of 'fine bundles of asparagus and plates'.<br><br><b>Design & Designing</b><br>Ceramic vessels naturalistically modelled and painted as vegetables and animals were very fashionable in mid-18th century Europe. The fashion probably originated in France or Germany and was soon taken up in England.","physicalDescription":"Box and cover, in the form of a bundle of asparagus, porcelain, painted in colours. Asparagus moulded and coloured after nature in purple and green, bound with a brown ribbon.","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Chelsea Porcelain factory","id":"A9067"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"AAT251917"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels","categories":[{"text":"Eating","id":"THES48963"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AM6092","2006BC7242","2019MD0436","2018KX4235"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"118A (VA)","id":"THES49236"},"free":"","case":"CA5","shelf":"","box":"46"},{"current":{"text":"118A (VA)","id":"THES49236"},"free":"","case":"CA5","shelf":"","box":"46"}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Box","id":""}],[{"text":"Cover","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"London","id":"x28980"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1756","earliest":"1751-01-01","latest":"1760-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Bequeathed by Mr Arthur Hurst","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Width","value":"17.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"10.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"Dimensions checked: Registered Description; 11/10/1999 by RK","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'No 30'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"inside base and cover","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"inside base and cover"},{"content":"red anchor symbol","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"inside base and cover","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"inside base and cover"}],"objectHistory":"Made at the Chelsea porcelain factory, London","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Box and cover, in the form of a bundle of asparagus, porcelain, painted in colours, made at the Chelsea porcelain factory, ca. 1756\n\nC","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"asparagus","id":"x33493"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"British Galleries:\nAt formal occasions, even humour was subjected to conventions. Visual 'puns', such as serving dishes in the form of food, were popular. Asparagus was cheap and abundant in the 18th century and was frequently served in soups and stews. This tureen, however, is for cream or stewed fruit.","date":{"text":"27/03/2003","earliest":"2003-03-27","latest":"2003-03-27"}}],"partNumbers":["C.176-1940","C.176A-1940"],"accessionNumberNum":"176","accessionNumberPrefix":"C","accessionYear":1940,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Box","Cover"],"assets":["2019LP8105","2019LP4823","2019LV6940"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-25","recordCreationDate":"2003-03-27","availableToBook":false}}