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Book-shaped Handwarmer
Pottery:
unidentified London pottery
(Possibly)
Pottery:
Unidentified Bristol pottery
(Possibly)
Pottery:
Brislington Pottery
(Possibly)
Tin-glazed earthenware painted on blue and yellow to resemble a stamped leather binding and inscribed 'M x P/1693'
Buff earthenware, tin-glazed, and painted in blue and yellow. Rectangular with two internal chambers linked by a hole, a larger aperture at the top next to the spine, and a small hole in the top front corner. Two pseudo-clasps are attached to the covers. The spine has five horizontal ridges. The two covers are each decorated in blue with a lozenge-shaped motif enclosing the inscription 'MP/1693 with formal motifs round the edges and in the corners. The spine has five horizontal blue stripes with a stylized plant motif between each of them. The fore-edge is painted yellow
History note: Mr Sidney Hand, Grafton Street, London from whom purchased for £20 on 31 May 1922 by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge
Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest
Depth: 3.7 cm
Height: 10 cm
Width: 7.8 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
17th Century, Late
William III and Mary II
Production date:
dated
AD 1693
No archaeological evidence has been found to indicate the origin of this book.
This handwarmer may have been made at a pottery in London, Bristol or Brislington.
Decoration composed of high-temperature colour ( blue from cobalt)
buff
Earthenware
Tin-glaze
Accession number: C.1451-1928
Primary reference Number: 72020
Old object number: 3753
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 (2025) "Book-shaped Handwarmer" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72020 Accessed: 2025-06-17 02:39:39
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72020
|title=Book-shaped Handwarmer
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-06-17 02:39:39|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-72020
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/aa27/C_1451_1928_20_281_29.jpg"
alt="Book-shaped Handwarmer"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Book-shaped Handwarmer</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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