Charles Gouyn Chelsea porcelain scent bottle in the form of a Cupid

By Charles Gouyn, St James: Chelsea porcelain scent bottle in the form of a Cupid with a bow and arrow, sitting on a green log. A rose forms the stopper with metal mount. The base is white and concave, decorated underneath with a pink rose and leaves. Charles Gouyn (died 1785), a Huguenot born in Dieppe, was a second-generation jeweller with premises ‘at the Turk’s Head’, Bennett Street, St. James’s, London (his brother was a jeweller in Paris). Gouyn helped Nicholas Sprimont (1716–1771) set up the Chelsea Porcelain Factory around 1745. But in about 1748 Gouyn severed his links with Sprimont and the Chelsea Porcelain Factory and set out to compete with his own ‘Girl-in-a Swing’ manufactory, so-called after a figure in the Victoria & Albert which has given its name to a whole class of similar porcelain figures. Gouyn’s factory also made small scent bottles, etc. usually with gold or gilt metal mounts collectively known as ‘toys’.