The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Figure of Autumn from the Four Seasons

Figure of Autumn from the Four Seasons

c. 1775
(British, 1770–81)
England, Bristol
hard-paste porcelain
Overall: 28.4 x 16.2 x 13.7 cm (11 3/16 x 6 3/8 x 5 3/8 in.)
Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness 1917.611.1
Location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

Allegorical figures most often decorated a table during the dessert course, providing amusing subjects for conversation.

Description

The modern notion of childhood as a time of innocence and simplicity emerged during the second half of the eighteenth century. This understanding of adolescence led to numerous depictions of children as personifications of the four seasons. Here autumn is portrayed as a young girl playfully jostling her overskirt as she balances a basket of fruit against her hip. The grapes, plums, and apples filling her basket allude to a plentiful fall harvest.
  • ?-1916
    Mary Warden Harkness [1864-1916], New York, NY, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1917-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned: cat. no. 267 archive.org
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    No legacy exhibitions.
    Art of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 9-December 2, 1934).
  • {{cite web|title=Figure of Autumn from the Four Seasons|url=false|author=Bristol Porcelain Factory|year=c. 1775|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1917.611.1