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Boy representing Africa from the Four Quarters of the Globe
Factory:
Derby Porcelain Factory
Proprietor:
Robert Bloor
Soft-paste porcelain figure of Africa accompanied by a lion, painted in polychrome enamels, and gilt.
Soft-paste porcelain painted overglaze in dark blue, green, bluish-green, yellow, red, brown, and black enamels, and gilt. The flat, mainly unglazed underside has a large circular ventilation hole. The roughly circular base has a small tree stump at the back, and at the front, a semi-circular panel flanked by scrolls. Africa stands on his right leg with his left bent and resting on a small lion standing behind him. His head is turned to his right, and he holds a fruit in his right hand, and supports the lower end of a cornucopia of fruit in his left hand. His skin is black, and he wears a black elephant's head headdress, and a dark blue drapery with a floral pattern, a yellow lining, and gold edge. The scrolls are picked out in gold, and the panel is decorated with a gold cornucopia.
History note: Unknown before donor
Given by Ralph Griffin, MA, FSA
Height: 23.4 cm
Method of acquisition: Given (1918) by Griffin, Ralph, MA, FSA
19th Century, Early#
George III
Circa
1811
CE
-
1828
CE
The figure of Africa derives ultimately from the representation in Cesare Ripa’s Iconologia, 1593, the first illustrated edition of which was published in Rome in 1603. It shows Africa as a woman with an elephant headdress, holding a lobster in her right hand and a cornucopia in her left, and having a lion behind her. The porcelain model also resembles the marble statue without a cornucopia or lobster in the garden at Versailles, begun by Sibrayque and completed by Jean Cornu (1650-1710) in 1682. The Derby Continents may have been inspired by one of several Meissen sets of seated or standing figures modelled c. 1745-50, by J.J. Kaendler, P. Reinicke, and F.E. Meyer, but their immediate prototype appears to have been a set of Chelsea Continents of c. 1758-9.
This model is one of a set of Continents described as the Four Quarters of the Globe in Haslem's 'Price List of Groups and Single Figures . . .' . The model conforms to Africa in no. 332 of Bradshaw's 'Revised Derby Factory List, but does not have the name of the Continent in the panel on the front of the base, see Documention, 1990.
Decoration
composed of
enamels
( in dark blue, green, bluish-green, yellow, red, brown, and black enamels)
gold
Base
Diameter 11.1 cm
but might be bone china
Soft-paste porcelain
presumed lead
Lead-glaze
Slip-casting
: Bone china, painted overglaze in dark blue, green, bluish-green, yellow, red, brown, and black enamels, and gilt
Lead-glazing
Inscription present: with a crown over
Accession number: C.46-1918
Primary reference Number: 42626
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) "Boy representing Africa from the Four Quarters of the Globe" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/42626 Accessed: 2024-12-31 17:52:45
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/42626
|title=Boy representing Africa from the Four Quarters of the Globe
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-31 17:52:45|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-42626
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/aa3/C_46_1918_281_29.jpg"
alt="Boy representing Africa from the Four Quarters of the Globe"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Boy representing Africa from the Four Quarters of the Globe</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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