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Lion (facing right)
Production: Pill Pottery
Earthenware figure, moulded with modelled additions and lead glazed.
Red earthenware lion lying with right front paw raised on a ball, head turned to the right and tail curled over the right rear foot. The cheeks are incised to suggest whiskers and the mane is thickly modelled. The lion rests on a flat rectangular base which has rounded corners. The front of the base is incised ‘H. Davies Pill Pottery’. The underside is open, mainly unglazed.
History note: Bought at Sotheby’s on 12 June 1906, lot 177, for 10/- (ten shillings) with its pair, by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest
Height: 15.9 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, second half#
Circa
1860
CE
-
1880
CE
This is one of a pair of lions, perhaps made to sit at either end of a mantelpiece or dresser. As each has a paw raised on a ball, they are probably based on a pair which were moved from the gardens of the Villa Medici in Rome to public display at the entrance of the Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence, in 1789. Small scale reproductions of the Medici lions in stone, marble, plaster and bronze were widely circulated, and the potters may have used these as models, rather than engravings of the originals. Pottery lions were popular in the early 19th century, although more often produced in white earthenware and decorated with coloured glazes or enamels; there are several in the Fitzwilliam collection.
Decoration
composed of
lead-glaze
Base
Depth 10 cm
Width 19 cm
Parts
Moulding : Red earthenware, moulded and modelled, lead glazed.
Accession number: C.182B-1928
Primary reference Number: 72723
Old object number: 2421
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) "Lion (facing right)" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72723 Accessed: 2024-12-22 19:19:48
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72723
|title=Lion (facing right)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-22 19:19:48|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-72723
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/aa36/C_182B_1928_2010_mfj22_dc2.jpg"
alt="Lion (facing right)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Lion (facing right)</figcaption>
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