Cup

Nicholas Sprimont, a Huguenot goldsmith, ran the Chelsea porcelain manufactory, supported financially by the diplomat Sir Everard Fawkener. He was born in Liège, a French-speaking part of Flanders, and was trained as a silversmith. His skill as a modeller and designer is reflected in many of the factory's early productions. A wide range of influences inspired Chelsea wares including designs found on French, German and Oriental porcelains. Chelsea porcelain was aimed at an aristocratic and wealthy clientele.

This soft-past porcelain cup (with the handle missing) is decorated in enamel colours with a scene from Aesop's fables. A fox is shown bravely confronting a lion. It would appear that this relates to the Aesop fable where a fox was frightened at first by a lion and ran away, the second time watched the lion pass by from a safe distance and on the third occasion confronted the lion face-to-face. Scenes from Aesop's fables proved popular and the factory's most skilled decorators were employed to produce them. They interpreted freely the engravings that accompanied the standard editions of the Fables, transforming the illustrations into charming and lively coloured scenes with animals in dialogue set against a simple landscape.