Figure of Spring from the Four Seasons, by Bristol Porcelain Factory, c. 1775
Gallery mode Full size at the museum

Window mode follows your eyes with your camera, in this browser only: no picture or position leaves your device.

Figure of Spring from the Four Seasons

maker Bristol Porcelain Factory (British, 1770–81)

c. 1775

Medium
hard-paste porcelain
Classification
Ceramic
Dimensions
Overall: 27 x 14.5 x 9.4 cm (10 5/8 x 5 11/16 x 3 11/16 in.)
Culture
England, Bristol
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art, Decorative Art and Design
Credit line
Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness
Rights
Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
Who can see it
Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed

View at the Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

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 spring is portrayed as a young girl adorning her hair with flowers. The flowers filling her basket and growing in the grass around her signal spring’s arrival.