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Britannia
Derby Porcelain Factory
(Factory)
William Duesbury & Co.
(Proprietor)
Soft-paste porcelain figure of Britannia, painted in polychrome enamels and gilt.
Soft-paste porcelain figure of Britannia, slip-cast, and painted overglaze in pale blue, turquoise, green, flesh pink, pink, puce, red, pale brown, and black enamels, and gilt. The unglazed underside has been ground flat, and has three patch marks, and a large circular central ventilation hole. The base is approximately circular with a rococo scrolled and pierced front edge, and rises up at the back into a broad tree trunk with two branches bearing flowers and foliage on the figure’s left. Britannia stands with her left foot slightly advanced, her head turned a little to her right as she looks towards her raised right hand. Her left arm is a little behind her, the hand supporting an oval shield charged with red crosses of St George and St Andrew, which rests on the head of a lion. She has long, pale brown hair, tied back, and a cap with three white feathers at the front and a red underside to the peak. She wears a white dress with a puce floral pattern, pink cuffs, and pink drape round the neckline, a gilt scale cuirass, a white and turquoise shawl draped over her right shoulder and arm, and black sandals with a gold button on top. On the figure’s right a pink flag with a Union Jack in the top corner projects from the tree trunk. On the base there is a pale blue canon mouth, two pale blue canon balls of different sizes, a sword with a black scabbard with green wreath resting on it, and a white trumpet. The edge is picked out in turquoise and gold.
History note: Unknown before testator
Cecil E. Byas Bequest
Height: 26 cm
Width: 12.8 cm
Relative size of this object is displayed using code inspired by Good Form and Spectacle's work on the British Museum's Waddeson Bequest website and their dimension drawer. They chose a tennis ball to represent a universally sized object, from which you could envisage the size of an object.
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(1937)
by
Byas, Cecil E.
Third quarter of 18th century
George III
Production date:
circa
AD 1765
Decoration composed of enamels ( pale blue, turquoise, green, flesh pink, pink, puce, red, pale brown, and black) gold
presumed lead-glaze Lead-glaze Soft-paste porcelain
Slip-casting : Soft-paste porcelain, slip-cast, and painted overglaze in pale blue, turquoise, green, flesh pink, pink, puce, red, pale brown, and black enamels, and gilt. The unglazed underside has been ground flat, and has three patch marks, and a large circular central ventilation hole
Glazing (coating)
Accession number: EC.18-1938
Primary reference Number: 131415
Stable URI
Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2022)
"Britannia"
Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/131415 Accessed: 2022-06-28 04:25:25
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/131415
|title=Britannia
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2022-06-28 04:25:25|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center my-3">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa40/EC_18_1938_1_201011_amt49_dc2.jpg"
alt="Britannia"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Britannia</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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