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Flask: C.2255-1928

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Current Location: In storage

Maker(s)

Maker: Unknown

Entities

Categories

Description

Maiolica coffer-shaped flask, painted in blue and yellow.

Earthenware, covered overall with speckly off-white tin glaze. Painted in blue and dark yellow. Oblong with arched top, drop handles at each end, and supports with paw feet at the front. In the middle of the front is a hasp and on the top of the lid, a circular rim with an aperture in the middle.The front and lid are decorated with blue foliate scrolls and spots radiating symmetrically from the hasp. The hasp and feet are dark yellow, and the handles are picked out in blue. The back is undecorated.

Notes

History note: Taormina, where purchased in April 1904 by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Depth: 6.7 cm
Height: 9.8 cm
Length: 13.1 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

18th Century
Circa 1700 CE - 1800 CE

Note

Novelty flasks were a speciality of Caltagirone potters from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries. They exist in several forms, such as bags, books, coffers, and fish. A coffer with blue geometrical decoration, dated 1684, is in the Curiale collection, Palermo. Rackham (1935), noted that there were several comparable pieces in the Museo Nazionale in Palermo.

Components of the work

Decoration composed of high-temperature colours ( blue and dark yellow)

Materials used in production

Tin-glaze
Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Tin-glazing : Earthenware, covered overall with speckly off-white tin glaze. Painted in blue and dark yellow.

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.2255-1928
Primary reference Number: 73294
Old object number: 2022

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 30 April 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 (2025) "Flask" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/73294 Accessed: 2025-12-05 15:55:06

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/73294 |title=Flask |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 15:55:06|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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