A Philosopher, possibly Heraclitus
Factory: Capodimonte Porcelain Factory
Soft-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilt
Creamy-white soft-paste porcelain, press-moulded, and painted overglaze in pale green, pale yellow, flesh pink, pale red, dark mauve, grey, brown, and a spot of black enamel, and gilt. The underside of the base is unglazed, except for a few dribbles, particularly in viewer’s back left corner, and has a square ventilation hole near the back. The rectangular base is bowed at the front and has moulded sides outlined in gold, and a stylized foliage motif at centre front. The philosopher stands on his right foot with his left foot on the upper book of two resting on top of the base. He has pale greyish-brown hair and beard, ruddy cheeks and pale red lips. The upper part of his torso is bare, and he has a dark mauve drape around his body over green trousers, dark mauve sandals, and a larger yellow cloak over his head, which falls down to the ground at the back, and is held up to his face by his right hand, as if wiping his eye with it. Over his left forearm he has a partly unrolled scroll.
History note: Unknown before Mrs W. D. (Frances Louisa) Dickson
Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson
Height: 24.1 cm
Width: 10 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1950-09) by Dickson, W. D. (Frances Louisa), Mrs
18th Century, third quarter
Circa
1755
CE
-
1759
CE
Accessioned as Buen Retiro, but later reattributed to Capodimonte. The colouring is very close to the Dancing Couple by Giuseppe Gricci C.44-1950.
Decoration
composed of
enamel
( pale green, pale yellow, flesh pink, pale red, dark mauve, grey, brown, and a spot of black)
gold
Visible Areas
composed of
glaze
( presumed lead-glaze)
Base
Depth 7.5 cm
Width 9.3 cm
Press-moulding : Soft-paste porcelain, press-moulded in parts, glazed, painted in pale green, pale yellow, flesh pink, pale red, dark mauve, grey, brown, and a spot of black enamel, and gilt
Accession number: C.73-1950
Primary reference Number: 140361
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:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "A Philosopher, possibly Heraclitus" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/140361 Accessed: 2024-11-05 09:22:37
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/140361
|title=A Philosopher, possibly Heraclitus
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 09:22:37|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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-140361
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