Collections Online
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Advanced Search
Saucer
Saucer in hard-paste porcelain, dish shaped without well with a raised foot ring and slightly flared rim; the saucer is hand-painted in polychrome enamels with a scene after Bernard Picart (1708), depicting a couple touring the Island of Cythera, a man and woman with a child attendant walk in a grassy landscape by the sea, each in European dress, the man pours the woman a drink from a bulbous bottle and the attendant holds a torch in one hand and a staff in the other, the woman holds a staff decorated with pink ribbon in her left hand, the right side of the image is framed by a tree and bushes, to the distant left is a shoreline with several buildings surrounded by trees and in the lake is a small boat with two sailors, on which the visitors to the island have arrived.
The scene on this saucer is adapted from Bernard Picart's (1673 - 1733) 'Pèlerin de l"Isle de Cythère', published in 1708. In Greek mythology the island of Cythera was devoted to the cult of Aphrodite. The subject of couples visiting Cythera became a popular theme in the early eighteenth century, being depicted in engravings and paintings and also represented in the theatre, ballet and opera.
Collection Area
Item Number
Creation/Production
Acquisition
Measurements
Techniques
Material
Location
Collections Online is updated regularly, but please confirm that a work remains on display before making a special visit.