Description
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.
Provenance
Mary Warden Harkness [1864-1916], New York, NY, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art (?-1916); The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (1917-)
Accession Number
1917.611.2
Medium
hard-paste porcelain
Dimensions
Overall: 27 x 14.5 x 9.4 cm (10 5/8 x 5 11/16 x 3 11/16 in.)
Classification
Ceramic
Credit Line
Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness