Figure of Spring from the Four Seasons

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-)

Figure of Spring from the Four Seasons

Bristol Porcelain Factory

c. 1775

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

Museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Cleveland, United States

Credit Line

Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness