Bronze Age Gold from Wales

Figure of a Chinese man on a roughly circular base encrusted with simple sprigged flowers and leaves in green, blue, yellow, red and brown enamel; the figure dressed in pink shoes with yellow bows, white stockings, white trousers edged in gilt and jacket belted with gilt highlights, wrapped in a voluminous white cloak, his right hand holding a long black beard and moustache, tinted face (perhaps a mask) and on his head a pink cap edged in gilt.

This figure is called 'Chinese Mask'. Chinese porcelain was collected enthusiastically during the eighteenth century and British manufacturers were desperate to unlock the secret of how to create this gleaming white, beautifully translucent ceramic. The Chelsea Porcelain Factory, established by Nicholas Sprimont (1715-1771), a Huguenot silversmith, is considered to be the first to achieve this ambition.