An extremely rare Chelsea Porcelain Parakeet Taken directly from the Enlightenment Publication 'A Natural History of Uncommon Birds', published by George Edwards. Beautifully modelled with tightly closed wings painted in tones of green with puce detailing, with a red tipped beak, perched upon an irregularly moulded leafy tree branch, the branch painted in a pale green wash and the leaves in tones of green with further puce detailing.

George Edwards (1694-1773), Keeper of the Library of the Royal College of Physicians and employed by the Royal Society as an artist, produced the first volume of his important ornithological work, A Natural History of Uncommon Birds, in 1743. His great patron was Sir Hans Sloane, he was also a friend of fellow ornithologist, Mark Catesby. Immediately successful, the book's illustrations provided the Chelsea porcelain manufactory with a fresh source of subjects for its modellers - and Edwards was not unaware of this. He wrote in his later Gleanings of Natural History: "I have observed, that several of our manufacturers that imitate China Ware, print sellers, and printers of linen & cotton cloths, have filled the shops in London with images, pictures, and prints, modelled, copied, or drawn, and coloured after the figures in my History of Birds, most of which are sadly represented both as to shape and colouring.”

Taken directly from The Natural History of Uncommon Birds, Vol. 1 Plate 6. 1743. The title of the original plate is 'The Smallest Green and Red Indian Parakeet'. A pair formerly in the Collection of Lady Charlotte Schreiber and sold at Sotheby's 12th  December 1946 to Judge Irwin Untermyer, now in the Metropolitan Museum New York, not naturalistically coloured. A single model, also from the collection of Alfred Hutton is in the collection of MFAB. The colouring of the leaves on this example should be compared with the enamelling on the leaves of some ‘tea plant' moulded pieces. Decorated outside the manufactory in the London Workshop of William Duesbury. Edwards describes the bird as represented of its proper size. When reading the text from Edwards’ volume, ’This bird', Edwards says, 'was brought from Holland, in spirits, by Dr Cromwell Mortimer, Secretary to the Royal Society, who brought it there with other things brought from some Dutch Settlement in the East Indies'. Some effort has been made to match the colouring to the natural description of the bird and therefore it can be suggested that this may have been a commission from an Ornithologist such as the people listed as owners of the birds in Edwards' Volumes.

For a full discussion, see Paul Crane, ‘Nature, Porcelain and Enlightenment: George Edwards and the Chelsea Porcelain Birds’. English Ceramic Circle Transactions Volume 28, 2017, p.31-65.

Provenance:  Private Collection            

Marks:  Applied Oval Pad containing an Anchor moulded in crisp low relief picked out in red enamel