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View 1. Image provided by gallery - not for public use.
Hercules and Omphale
View 1. Image provided by gallery - not for public use.
View 1. Image provided by gallery - not for public use.

Hercules and Omphale

Designer Charles Gouyn (English, active 1735, died 1785)
Manufacturer St. James Factory, London, England (ca.1748/1749 - 1760)
Dateca. 1749-1759
MediumSoft-paste porcelain
DimensionsOverall: 8 1/2 × 7 3/8 × 5 inches (21.59 × 18.73 × 12.7 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: John S. Doud Fund
Object number2025.25
On View
Not on view
DescriptionA white-glazed soft-paste porcelain figural group of two intertwined lovers, Hercules seated with Omphale standing over him. She wears his lion's skin mantle and holds his club.Exhibition History
The English Ceramic Circle, 1927–1948. English Pottery and Porcelain. Victoria and Albert Museum, London, May 5–June 20, 1948: cat no. 254 (as by Chelsea Porcelain Factory).
Provenance

Possibly Arthur Hurst (1857-1940), York, England, by 1940 [1];

Possibly purchased at his posthumous sale, The Well-Known Collection of Old English Porcelain, The Property of Arthur Hurst, Esq. (decd.), The Second Portion, Sotheby & Co., London, November 28, 1940, lot 40, by Tilley [2];

Theodore David (1906–1981) and Anne Millard (née Bennett, 1912–1996) Barclay, Higham, Suffolk and London, by 1948-1953 [3];

Purchased at their sale, Catalogue of a fine collection of Worcester porcelain ... early Chelsea porcelain, Sotheby’s London, January 27, 1953, lot 140, by Hanns Weinberg [4];

To The Antique Porcelain Co., Inc., New York, by 1962 [5];

To Michele Beiny, Inc., New York, by 2025 [6];

Purchased from Michele Beiny, Inc. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2025.

NOTES:

[1] Arthur Hurst was a former railway official from York who bequeathed much of his decorative arts collection to the V&A Museum and the British Museum. The remainder was sold at a series of London auctions, 1940-1941. Due to the difficulty inherent in differentiating between versions of objects created in multiples - such as this porcelain group - in historic literature, it is not certain the Hercules and Omphale piece owned by Hurst is in fact the Nelson-Atkins example. The height of the Hurst piece, however, is listed in the auction catalogue as 8 1/2 inches. The Nelson-Atkins version is the only known version of this height that could also have been in this sale. Versions at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (9 inches), the Metropolitan Museum of Art (8 7/8 inches) and the Fitzwilliam Museum (9.3 inches) are recorded as slightly taller, although these size differences could be negligible.

[2] See note 1. The buyer was likely Frank Tilley, a London dealer who published several books and articles on English ceramics. He is listed as the buyer in the catalogue's price list.

[3] Lent to the English Ceramic Circle exhibition, English Pottery and Porcelain , Victoria & Albert Museum, London, May 5–June 20, 1948, no. 254 (ill., plate 54), as by Chelsea, by Mr. and Mrs. T. D. Barclay, presumably Theodore David and Anne Millard Barclay.

[4] “The Sale Room: £950 for Chelsea Whites Porcelain Group,” London Times (January 28, 1953): 8. Hanns Weinberg founded the Antique Porcelain Company in London in 1946 and opened a New York branch in 1957.

[5] Listed as owned by The Antique Porcelain Co., Inc., New York, in Arthur Lane and R. J. Charleston, “Girl in a Swing Porcelain and Chelsea,” The English Ceramic Circle Transactions 5, part 3 (1962): 139.

[6] Dealer Michele Beiny Harkins, President of Michele Beiny, Inc., is the granddaughter of Hanns Weinberg, owner of the Antique Porcelain Company.

Published References

The English Ceramic Circle, 1927–1948. English Pottery and Porcelain, exh. cat. (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1948): no. 254, p. 46 (ill. pl. 54).


Catalogue of a Fine Collection of Worcester Porcelain…also Early Chelsea Porcelain…The Property of T. D. Barclay, Esq., Sotheby’s London, January 27, 1953, frontispiece, 23, (repro.).

“The Sale Room: £950 for Chelsea Whites Porcelain Group,” London Times (January 28, 1953): 8.

Arthur Lane and R. J. Charleston, “Girl in a Swing Porcelain and Chelsea,” The English Ceramic Circle Transactions 5, part 3 (1962): 139.

 



Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.


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