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Cupid at Vulcan's Forge representing Fire: C.3084-1928

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 26 (Lower Marlay)

Titles

Cupid at Vulcan's Forge representing Fire

Maker(s)

Factory: Longton Hall Porcelain Manufactory
Production: Littler, William

Entities

Categories

Description

Cupid at Vulcan's Forge, representing Fire from a Set of Elements, of 'Snowman' type. Glassy soft-paste porcelain, appearing creamy-white, moulded, and covered with thick clear lead-glaze with black speckles here and there, particularly on the top of the base, which has a 'dry' edge. The flat underside is unglazed and has a small circular ventialation hole under the forge, and a large rectangular one on the right under the figure. The base is rectangular and is decorated round the side and front edges with applied leaves and daisies. The infant Cupid sits on a low rock on the right, leaning forward towards the forge to warm his hands. He has short hair and is nude apart from a drape. The forge is square with incurved sides and has a flaming chimney with scrolls on the corners. A shovel and tongues rest against the front.

Notes

History note: Sir Hercules Read; sold Sotheby's, 6 November 1928, Catalogue of the varied and extensive collection of works of art, the property of Sir Hercules Read, 2nd day, part of lot 192; purchased by Hunt (or Hant) for £18 for both parts for Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Depth: 9.9 cm
Height: 12.4 cm
Width: 16.1 cm

Relative size of this object

16.1 cm12.4 cm9.9 cm What does this represent?

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.

Place(s) associated

  • Longton Hall ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

Mid 18th Century
Circa 1750 CE - 1752 CE

Note

Longton Hall is situated near Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire

The glassy soft-paste porcelain of Longton Hall contained flint glass, ground flint, gypsum, limestone, and ball clay. The lead in the glass permitted it to fuse at a lower temperature, but also made it prone to warp or collapse during firing. This is shown by many warped waster fragments excavated on the site.

School or Style

Rococo

People, subjects and objects depicted

Materials used in production

except for the base Lead-glaze
Glassy soft-paste porcelain

Techniques used in production

Moulding : Glassy soft-paste porcelain, appearing creamy-white, moulded, and covered with thick clear lead-glaze with black speckles here and there, particularly on the top of the base, which has a 'dry' edge. The flat underside is unglazed and has a small circular ventialation hole under the forge, and a large rectangular one on the right under the figure
Lead-glazing

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: rectangular with cut corners and a black line border, inscribed in black ink in Dr J.W.L. Glaisher's hand

  • Text: 5118/Figure of a boy/warming his/hands by a fire/of white French/soft paste [crossed out] frm a///b. at Sotheby's/Nov. 6 1928/[Hercules Read /sale]
  • Location: On the base
  • Method of creation: Handwritten in black ink
  • Type: Label
  • Text: French pâte tendre
  • Location: Removed since purchase by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.3084-1928
Primary reference Number: 38874
Old object number: 5118
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 16 August 2017 Last processed: Tuesday 14 February 2023

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 (2023) "Cupid at Vulcan's Forge representing Fire" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/38874 Accessed: 2023-06-05 22:43:25

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/38874 |title=Cupid at Vulcan's Forge representing Fire |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2023-06-05 22:43:25|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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