CHAPTER 4: Dancing on Eggshells: A Holistic Analytical Study of a Ballet Dancer on Regency Porcelain

An English porcelain spill vase putatively dating from the Regency period, ca. 1815–1825, decorated with a young girl in the pose of a ballet dancer has been analysed holistically whereby in situ non-destructive Raman spectroscopic analysis has been combined with an historical investigation of the subject matter. It appears that this subject represents one of the earliest depictions of ballet dancing on china: the porcelain body analysis has revealed that the composition is bone china and probably attributable to the emergent Davenport factory, which was established in Longport, Staffordshire, around 1806. The only other piece of porcelain with a painted ballet dancing theme recorded in the literature hitherto is from the Bloor Derby factory, showing Marie Taglioni in her London premier role in La Sylphide in about 1830. This confers some rarity upon this item and accentuates the importance of being able to undertake analytical spectroscopic measurements upon intact, very rare and perfect specimens of ceramic art without the necessity of pretreatment or the excision of samples.