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Production: Unidentified Staffordshire Potter
Slipware dish decorated with St George and the Dragon
Pale red earthenware, press-moulded over a hump mould to produce a design in relief on the interior, coated in cream slip, and slip-trailed in brown and dark brown under yellowish lead-glaze; the reverse is undecorated. The dish is circular with deep curved sides and a crinkled edge produced by making adjacent impressions with an oval implement. St George rides a horse towards the viewer's right, and spears the scaly dragon which lies on the ground below the horse. Behind St George is an inn sign inscribed in relief St/George/Dragon, with above, a coat-of-arms flanked by scrolls. The initials IB (JB) are moulded in relief below the horse, on either side of St George's leg.
History note: F. J. Morrell, 48 Liverpool Road, Stoke on Trent, from whom bought for £55 on 2 December 1928, while at Bournemouth by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest
Diameter: 40.6 cm
Height: 9.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
18th Century, first half
Circa
1715
-
1740
St George is the patron saint of England, whose feast day is 23 April. St George's legendary slaying of a dragon was a well-known story, and the George and Dragon was a popular name for inns and taverns. It therefore seems highly likely that dishes like this, which include a sign as part of the design, could have been made for one of them. A dish in the British Museum was probably made from the same mould, but is decorated in dark brown slip only, and has a dragon whose body had the same pattern all over it, except for the head, legs, wing, and tail. (inv. no. 1887,0307,D.43)
Inside Decoration
composed of
slip
( cream, brown, and dark brown)
Inside Surface
composed of
lead-glaze
Inside
pale red Earthenware
Press-moulding : Pale red earthenware, press-moulded over a hump mould to produce a design in relief on the inside, coated with cream slip, slip-trailed in brown and dark brown, and lead-glazed; the exterior is undecorated
Inscription present: the J appears as a dotted long tapering I
Accession number: C.197-1928
Primary reference Number: 72921
Old object number: 4945
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) "Dish" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72921 Accessed: 2025-03-26 08:24:30
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/72921
|title=Dish
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-03-26 08:24:30|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-72921
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/aa4/C_197_1928.jpg"
alt="Dish"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Dish</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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