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The Royal Arms of England
Potter: Toft, Thomas
Earthenware dish, slip coated and slip-trailed with the Royal Arms supported by a lion and a unicorn, within a wide trellis border; reverse undecorated
Pale red earthenware, thrown, coated with cream slip on the front, and slip-trailed in dark ochre and brown, and 'jewelled' in cream under yellowish lead-glaze. The reverse is undecorated. The dish is circular with a wide rim, curved sides and flat central area. The well is decorated with the Royal Arms of England (the first and fourth quarters simplified) with lion and unicorn supporters, and above, a crowned helmet and mantling, with C and R respectively on either side of them. The arms are surrounded by the Garter ribbon trailed with 'HONI.SOIT.QVI.MAL.Y:PENSE::' (Shame on him who thinks evil of it) and in a rectangular panel below, is the motto, 'DIEV.ET.MON.DROIT' (God and my Right) . The name, 'thomas toFT' is trailed on a smaller panel attached underneath it. All the outlines are 'jewelled' with spots of white slip. The rim is decorated with a border of trellis pattern in dark ochre and brown.
History note: Believed to have been originally in Clifton Hall, Cumberland, the home of the Wybergh family; Mr G. Scott of Clifton village, who bequeathed it to his niece, Sarah Robinson of Clifton who sold it in 1903 to Mr Cooper, Chemist of Penrith, who had the edges restored; bought in the summer of 1908 by George Stoner, of Stoner & Evans, London; sold by him for £68 on 27 October 1908 to Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge
Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest
Diameter: 53.3 cm
Height: 8.6 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
17th Century, Late
Charles II
Circa
1670
CE
-
1680
CE
This is one of six very large slipware dishes decorated with the Royal Arms, and initials CR for Charles II, which bear the name of the potter, Thomas Toft. The most significant because of it being dated and inscribed with the owner's names as well as Toft's, in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, is slip-trailed with the names 'FILEPHEVES 1671/ELESABATHHEVES'. The others are in the British Museum, at Waddesdon Manor (National Trust), the Nelson-Atkins Museum at Kansas City, and the Potteries Museum, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and when published, the C.W. Roundell Collection. Another, also in the Fitzwilliam has a different type of border, lacks the Garter, and is signed Thomas taft (C.209-1928).
Decoration
composed of
slip
( cream, dark ochre, and brown)
Front Surface
composed of
lead-glaze
( yellowish)
Front Surfacw``
Front
pale red Earthenware
Throwing (pottery technique) : Pale red earthenware, thrown, coated with cream slip on the front, and slip-trailed in dark ochre and brown, and 'jewelled' in cream under yellowish lead-glaze. The reverse is undecorated.
Inscription present: card label
Accession number: C.208-1928
Primary reference Number: 73083
Old object number: 2902
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) "The Royal Arms of England" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/73083 Accessed: 2025-03-26 09:15:40
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/73083
|title=The Royal Arms of England
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-03-26 09:15:40|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-73083
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/aa7/C_208_1928_281_29.jpg"
alt="The Royal Arms of England"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Royal Arms of England</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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