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French soldier & English sailor
Production: Unidentified factory (Possibly Sampson Smith)
White earthenware figure group moulded in three parts and pearlware glazed. Painted underglaze in cobalt blue and with black, grey, brown, red, orange, green, yellow, pink and flesh-pink enamels, and gilt.
The French soldier, on the left, holds a tricolour flag in his right hand and a gun in his left, its butt resting on the ground. He wears: a cap with black peak: an orange jacket with two rows of black buttons, yellow epaulets, gilt edged cuffs and a black neckerchief; and crossed white belts with a gold buckle. The gun has a grey barrel and a brown butt. Beside him, the sailor holds a Union Jack flag, with pink extension. He wears: a gilt edged, open, blue jacket; a white shirt with gilt edged collar; a loosely tied black neckerchief; a black belt with gold buckle; and a wide brimmed yellow hat. The sailor has a beard; both wear black shoes. Between them is a flesh-pink wall, with four black-lined cannon mouths; at its base is a pile of shot, touched in black. The rectangular base is rounded to one end; a gilt line runs across its front. The group is well coloured. The figures stand on rough ground, which is painted in a combed pattern of brown and green. The underside is concave and glazed. The back is flat, with a vent hole 27cm from the bottom. There are four round holes in the centre front, 6,9,11.5 and 14cm from the bottom.
History note: Praed Street, London, W. Bought on 9 November 1909, for 7/6 (seven shillings and sixpence), by Dr Glaisher, Trinity College.
Dr J.W.L.Glaisher Bequest
Depth: 6.5 cm
Depth: 2.25 in
Height: 34 cm
Height: 13.375 in
Width: 18.5 cm
Width: 7.25 in
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Mid#
Victorian
Production date:
circa
AD 1855
This figure group dates from the Crimean War (1854-56), when France, England and Turkey formed an alliance against the Russian Empire – a popular source for Staffordshire figures. The Fitzwilliam collection also includes a similarly posed figure group of the French Emperor, Napoleon III, and Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert (C.1026-1928). The existence of both these groups in different mouldings, including the French soldier and the English sailor as single figures, indicates that they sold well.
Woolliscroft (1976) lists this figure as attributed to Sampson Smith, at Longton, a factory listed in contemporary directories as a ‘manufacturer of figures in great variety’, which began around 1851 and continued to make figures in quantity into the early part of the twentieth century. Rackham (1935) also identifies the group as of a type made chiefly by Sampson Smith. The simple three part moulding of this figure and its plain oval base suggest it might have been made at the Sampson Smith factory, though there seems to be no other evidence for this attribution, and there were many other, manufacturers of figures working in Staffordshire at this time.
Decoration composed of enamels ( black, grey, brown, red, orange, green, yellow, pink and flesh-pink) underglaze cobalt-blue gold
Press-moulding
: White earthenware moulded in three parts and pearlware glazed. Painted underglaze in cobalt blue and with black, grey, brown, red, orange, green, yellow, pink and flesh-pink enamels, and gilt. The underside is concave and glazed. The back is flat, with a vent hole 27cm from the bottom. There are four round holes in the centre front, 6,9,11.5 and 14cm from the bottom.
Lead-glazing
Inscription present: Rectangular paper label, handwritten in black script
Accession number: C.1009-1928
Primary reference Number: 71130
Old object number: 3063
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) "French soldier & English sailor" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/71130 Accessed: 2024-11-22 00:36:00
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/71130
|title=French soldier & English sailor
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-22 00:36:00|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-71130
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<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa2/C_1009_1928_281_29.jpg"
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class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">French soldier & English sailor</figcaption>
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