Skip to main content

Bust of Purity: C.11-1984

An image of Bust
View image details Mirador icon - view image Mirador deep zoom IIIF Manifest IIIF Manifest Slow looking

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Alternative views

An image of Bust
An image of Bust
An image of Bust
Current Location: In storage

Titles

Bust of Purity

Maker(s)

Factory: Copeland
Sculptor: Noble, Matthew

Entities

Categories

Description

Parian porcelain, slip cast. Bust of a young girl with her head turned to her right and tilted downwards. Her long wavy hair falls down on to her shoulders at the back, and she has a small lily on the right side of the drape over her right shoulder.

Notes

History note: Malcolm Clark, Pembroke Street, Cambridge

Legal notes

Bought with the J.R.V. Smyth Fund

Measurements and weight

Height: 33.5 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1984-03-12) by Clark, Malcolm

Dating

19th Century, third quarter
Victoria I
Production date: circa AD 1869

Note

After the head of 'Purity', a full-length marble statue of 1859 by Matthew Noble (1818-1876). The bust of 'Purity' was advertised in the 'Art Journal' in March 1870, for 1guinea, having been preceded by a statuette in 1868. The Crystal Palace Art-Union was founded by Henry Battam of Copeland's in 1858 and was associated with the Crystal Palace. In 1865 it was renamed the Ceramic and Crystal Palace Art-Union. Purity was particularly appropriate as the 'special purpose of' the Union 'was to produce and circulate pure and beautiful examples of British Art Manufacture'.

Materials used in production

Parian (porcelain)

Techniques used in production

Slip casting : Parian porcelain, slip cast

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: CERAMIC./AND CRYSTAL PALACE ART UNION./PUB.NOVEMBER.1869.
  • Location: On back
  • Type: Inscription

Inscription present: 11/S is written with a horizontal stroke like a fraction; the c of Sc is raised

  • Text: 'COPELAND 11/S' and 'COPYRIGHT/RESERVED' and 'M. NOBLE.Sc'
  • Location: On back continuing from inscription
  • Type: Factory mark

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.11-1984
Primary reference Number: 137169

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 31 October 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Bust of Purity" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/137169 Accessed: 2025-12-05 07:09:04

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/137169 |title=Bust of Purity |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 07:09:04|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-137169

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa37/C_11_1984_1_201702_adn21_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Bust of Purity"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Bust of Purity</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo