The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 22, 2025

A porcelain jar in the realistic shape of a white hen with black tipped feathers. There is a line around the hen's upper chest area, showing the lid and body of the jar. There are chicks surrounding the hen, who is sitting atop a colorful floral platter.

Hen and Chicks Covered Tureen on Stand

c. 1755
maker

Chelsea Porcelain Factory

(Britain, London, 1745–84)
England, London, Chelsea
soft-paste porcelain
Overall: 24.8 x 34.9 x 25.7 cm (9 3/4 x 13 3/4 x 10 1/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1984.58
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Though the form of a soup tureen suggests a functional role at the dining table, such large, expensive porcelains were probably only used for decoration because hot liquids might have easily caused them to crack.

Description

The ceramic factory at Chelsea, located along the river Thames in western London, was Britain’s most renowned factory of decorative porcelain in the mid-1700s. Large tureens in the form of chickens or rabbits appealed to wealthy aristocrats, who took great care in developing specimen animal and poultry breeds on their country estates. The design for this particular tureen was taken from a popular seventeenth-century print by Francis Barlow depicting a farmyard.
  • ?-1984
    (Winifred Williams, London, 1984, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1984-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1984.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 72, no. 2 (April 1985): 163–207. Reproduced: p. 181; Mentioned: p. 201, no. 26 www.jstor.org
    Bidwell, Frederick E. and Leslie Cade. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. New York: Scala Arts Publishers, 2014. Mentioned & reproduced: p. 136 library.clevelandart.org
    "Reimagining the British Galleries: Our curators preview the new look of the space.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 59, no. 6 (November/December 2019): 5-7. Reproduced: P. 6; Mentioned: P. 6, 7.
  • British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer).
    Year in Review for 1984. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 3-May 5, 1985).
  • {{cite web|title=Hen and Chicks Covered Tureen on Stand|url=false|author=Chelsea Porcelain Factory|year=c. 1755|access-date=22 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1984.58