Plate Depicting the Soap Bubble Blower (La souffleuse de savon) England, Staffordshire, 18th century

Plate Depicting the Soap Bubble Blower (La souffleuse de savon)

c. 1760–70

printer

after François Boucher

(French, 1703–1770)

England, Staffordshire, 18th century

salt-glazed, transfer-printed stoneware

Diameter: 21 cm (8 1/4 in.)

Gift of R. Thornton Wilson in memory of his wife, Florence Ellsworth Wilson 1948.118

Location: not on view

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Did You Know?

This plate depicts a young lady blowing soap bubbles next to a very interested young boy.

Description

English potteries often courted aristocratic clients with cheaper wares that looked like more expensive works from the major centers of porcelain production in the eighteenth century, especially France, Germany, and China. In this case, the image printed in center of the plate depicts a young lady, enticing a boy with her skill at blowing soap bubbles through a thin pipe. The print was taken from an etching by Jean Daullé (French, 1703–1763), of the painting La souffleuse de savon (1758) by Francois Boucher (French, 1703–1770).