Bust
- Gallery: Room 46
- Maker: Richard Chaffers & Co
- Made in: Shaw's Brow; Vauxhall (probably)
- Date: 1755-1760 (circa)
- Object type: bust
- Materials: porcelain (soft-paste); gold; wood
- Museum number: 1887,0307,II.33
- Museum: The British Museum
- Collection record: British Museum website
- Image © The Trustees of the British Museum, shared under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 licence.
Listen to the free audio guide
About this object
Before you is a bust of King George II in soft-paste porcelain, created around 1755–1760. The king is shown wearing elaborate armor, a ribbon, and a star—likely related to the Order of the Garter. His cuirass is black, decorated with gilded accents, while his mantle is a dramatic mix of red-brown, buff, and grey-brown. The head is pressed with a hole at the top, and the interior has two flanges with a wooden screw to attach it to the pedestal. Notice the traces of paint and gilding, which suggest this was a carefully finished and highly stylized portrait.
For centuries, the exact factory behind this bust has been debated, with various English porcelain makers proposed, including Vauxhall and Liverpool. It is an early and ambitious attempt to bring royal portraiture into porcelain form, rare for its time. The bust was donated by Sir Augustus Wollaston Franks and remains an intriguing piece of 18th-century ceramic artistry.
See it in person
Bust is on display in Room 46 at the British Museum on Great Russell Street, Bloomsbury, London — free to enter. Choose British Museum on audioguide.london and take a photo of it to hear this free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
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