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Dish: The Temptation or Fall: C.1618-1928

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Dish: The Temptation or Fall

Maker(s)

Pottery: Unidentified Bristol pottery (Possibly)
Pottery: Brislington Pottery (Possibly)

Entities

Categories

Description

Tin-glazed earthenware painted in blue, green, yellow, and red, with The Temptation

Buff earthenware, tin-glazed overall, and painted on the front in blue, green, yellow, and red, and sponged in green. Circular with deep curved sides amd everted rim, standing on a footring. Decorated on the front with Adam and Eve wearing leaf aprons standing on either side of the Tree of Knowledge, and flanked by sponged green bushes surrounded by a blue circle and blue dash border.

Notes

History note: Unknown before Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 34 cm
Diameter: 13 3/8 in
Height: 7.4 cm
Height: 2 7/8 in

Place(s) associated

  • Bristol ⪼ Somerset ⪼ England
  • Brislington ⪼ Somerset ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Dating

18th Century, second quarter#
George II
Circa 1725 CE - 1735 CE

Note

This dish was probably made at either Brislington or Bristol. It is one of many decorated with blue dashes round the edge, known to collectors as 'Blue Dash Chargers'. The Temptation of Adam and Eve was one of the most popular subjects for the decoration of these dishes which were made from the 1630s. On this example dating probably from the 1720s or early 1730s, the couple are depicted wearing short skirts made of leaves, which suggests that they had already eaten the forbidden fruit and become aware of their nakedness. Eve, however, is shown reaching up into the Tree to take a fruit, perhaps an indication of the difficulty of refraining from enjoyable sins, or simply because the painter put skirts on the figures for modesty's sake, and forgot that this did not strictly follow order of events in the bible story..

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of high-temperature colours ( blue, green, yellow and red)

Materials used in production

buff Earthenware
white Tin-glaze

Techniques used in production

Tin-glazing : Tin-glazed earthenware painted in blue, green, yellow, and red, and sponged in green, high temperature colours; three stilt marks on the front; many pinholes in the glaze on the reverse and a few brown marks near the rim

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.1618-1928
Primary reference Number: 72315
Old object number: R 998
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Monday 24 April 2023 Last processed: Friday 16 February 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Dish: The Temptation or Fall" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72315 Accessed: 2024-11-05 21:29:56

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72315 |title=Dish: The Temptation or Fall |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 21:29:56|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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