Figures Depicting the Four Seasons (c. 1775): Art, History and Details

Figures Depicting the Four Seasons (c. 1775) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Bristol Porcelain Factory (British, 1770–81).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

In this group depicting the four seasons, a young boy in ice skates represents winter; a young lady adorns her hair with flowers in spring; a young man guards his beehive in summer; and a girl gathers fruit in autumn.

Object facts

• Title: Figures Depicting the Four Seasons
• Date: c. 1775
• Creator attribution: Bristol Porcelain Factory (British, 1770–81)
• Culture: England, Bristol
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: hard-paste porcelain
• Dimensions: Part 1: 28.4 x 16.2 x 13.7 cm (11 3/16 x 6 3/8 x 5 3/8 in.); Part 2: 27 x 14.5 x 9.4 cm (10 5/8 x 5 11/16 x 3 11/16 in.); Part 3: 27 x 15.9 x 11.7 cm (10 5/8 x 6 1/4 x 4 5/8 in.); Part 4: 27.2 x 13 x 11.5 cm (10 11/16 x 5 1/8 x 4 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 1917.611

A detail from the museum

Allegorical figures most often decorated a table during the dessert course, providing amusing subjects for conversation.

Collection credit

Bequest of Mary Warden Harkness

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Bequest of Mrs. Charles W. Harkness." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 4, no. 4 (1917): 63.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Only Summer (1917.611.3) and Autumn (1917.611.2) reproduced.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Only Summer (1917.611.3) and Autumn (1917.611.2) reproduced.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.