Current Location: In storage
Titles
Orpheus charming the Beasts
Maker(s)
Production:
Olerys and Laugier factory
(Possibly)
Production:
Fouque et Pelloquin
(Probably)
Entities
Categories
Description
Tin-glazed earthenware painted in polychrome with Orpheus and the Beasts
Earthenware, moulded, pierced, tin-glazed and painted in blue, greyish-green, pale and dark yellow, and manganese-purple. Rectangular with a raised moulded border, and a shell-shaped projection at the top with two holes for suspension pierced below it. The area within the border is painted with Orpheus playing a lyre to the Beasts. Orpheus is seated holding his lyre beside a tree in a landscape with two smaller trees in the distance to left, and various bushes and grasses in the foreground. The beasts are seated or standing in front of him. They include a stork, a lion, a monkey, a stag, an ostrich, a hound (?) and a rabbit. In the background there is a shoreline and a view of the sea with distant rocks, and a small sailing ship approaching from the right. The shell is coloured in blue and yellow. The border comprises a dark yellow band, a wider blue band, and a narrow dark yellow band with projecting blue formal leaves pointing outwards.
Notes
History note: Sotheby’s London, 21 November 1918, part of lot 239; bought by James Heyman, the porter, for £5.5s.0d. on behalf of Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge
Legal notes
Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest
Measurements and weight
Height: 1.3 cm
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(1928-12-07)
by
Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
Dating
18th Century, second half
Circa
1750
-
1780
School or Style
Rococo
People, subjects and objects depicted
Components of the work
Decoration
composed of
high temperature colours
( blue, greyish-green, pale and dark yellow and manganese-purple)
Surface
composed of
tin-glaze
Panel
Height 17.5 cm
Width 19.9 cm
Suspension Holes
Materials used in production
Earthenware
Techniques used in production
Moulding
: Earthenware, moulded, pierced, tin-glazed overall, and painted on the front in blue, greyish-green, pale and dark yellow and manganese-purple high temperature colours
References and bibliographic entries
Identification numbers
Accession number: C.2342-1928
Primary reference Number: 73381
Old object number: 4721
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
Updated: Tuesday 23 September 2025
Last processed: Tuesday 23 September 2025
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
