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Girl kneeling in prayer Mary Magdalene
Production: Unidentified factory
White earthenware figure moulded in three parts and pearlware glazed. Painted with brown, red and flesh-pink enamels, and gilt.
The girl kneels on her right knee, on a cushion; she gazes upwards with pious expression and her hands are raised in prayer, The figure is mainly white, with features picked out in enamels and gilt. Her lower body is draped in a wrap, which winds over her right arm, leaving her breasts exposed. Her brown hair falls just over her shoulders. The cushion is decorated to the front with a gold cord fixed by three tasselled rosettes. The rectangular base is encircled by a thick gilt line. The underside is concave and glazed. The back is moulded, with a vent hole 7cm from the bottom.
History note: Maggs, High Street, Falmouth . Bought on 1 January 1915, for 10/- (ten shillings), by Dr Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Dr G.W.L.Glaisher Bequest
Depth: 9.7 cm
Depth: 3.75 in
Height: 26 cm
Height: 10.25 in
Width: 14.6 cm
Width: 5.5 in
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Mid#
Victorian
Circa
1840
CE
-
Circa
1865
CE
Rackham (1935) suggests that this is perhaps Mary Magdalene. However, Dr Glaisher lists it simply as ‘Staffordshire figure of a girl on one knee praying, with her hands together in prayer’ and this also seems to be the opinion of others. Pugh (1970) suggests that the figure may be theatrical.
There were many manufacturers of figures working in Staffordshire at this time. Rackham (1935) lists this figure as of a type made chiefly by 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. However, there is little evidence for this attribution. Sampson Smith figures typically have a flat back and plain oval base, and the modelling of the figure suggests it might have been made before the factory opened.
Decoration composed of enamels ( brown, red and flesh-pink) gold
Press-moulding
: White earthenware moulded in three parts and pearlware glazed. Painted with brown, red and flesh-pink enamels, and gilt. The underside is concave and glazed. The back is moulded, with a vent hole 7cm from the bottom.
Lead-glazing
Inscription present: Rectangular paper label, handwritten in black script
Accession number: C.1021-1928
Primary reference Number: 71178
Old object number: 4104
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:
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IIIF Manifest
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Girl kneeling in prayer" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/71178 Accessed: 2024-12-22 05:00:30
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/71178
|title=Girl kneeling in prayer
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 05:00:30|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-71178
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<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa40/C_1021_1928_1_201702_adn21_dc2.jpg"
alt="Girl kneeling in prayer"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Girl kneeling in prayer</figcaption>
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