The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

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

c. 1760–70
printer

Jean Daulle

(French, 1703–1763)
painter

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

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).
  • R. Thornton Wilson, New York.
  • Foote, Helen. "Salt-Glaze Plate, 'Blowing Soap Bubbles.'" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 35, no. 7 (September 1948): 162-163. Mentioned: p. 162; Reproduced: p. 165 www.jstor.org
  • {{cite web|title=Plate Depicting the Soap Bubble Blower (La souffleuse de savon)|url=false|author=Jean Daulle, François Boucher|year=c. 1760–70|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1948.118