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Africa from a set of Continents
Factory: Derby Porcelain Factory
Soft-paste porcelain figure of Africa, painted in polychrome enamels.
Given by Mrs W.D. Dickson
Height: 10 in
Width: 7 3/4 in
Method of acquisition: Given (1932) by Dickson, W. D. (Frances Louisa), Mrs
18th Century, second half#
George III
Production date:
circa
AD 1765
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.
Decoration composed of enamels ( polychrome)
presumed lead
Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain
Glazing (coating) : Soft-paste porcelain figure of Africa, paibted in polychrome enamels.
Accession number: C.91-1932
Primary reference Number: 43503
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) "Africa from a set of Continents" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/43503 Accessed: 2024-12-28 10:28:10
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/43503
|title=Africa from a set of Continents
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-28 10:28:10|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-43503
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/aa2/C_91_1932_281_29.jpg"
alt="Africa from a set of Continents"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Africa from a set of Continents</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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