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The Lost Sheep
Potter: Wood, Ralph, II
Earthenware figure of a shepherd carrying a sheep decorated with coloured lead-glazes
Cream earthenware, moulded in parts, assembled, and decorated with translucent bluish, and greyish-blue, pale green, pale yellow, pale brown, and black lead-glazes. The figure is supported on a low square base with straight sides, which is hollow underneath and has a central ventilation hole in the middle. The youthful shepherd stands on a rocky and grassy mound beside a tree stump. He has his left foot forward, as if he has just stepped onto one of the rocks, and leans forward slightly because of the weight of the sheep carried over his shoulders.Its feet are tied together by a rope, which he grasps in both hands. His head is turned three-quarters to his right. He wears a black tricorne hat, a blue waistcoat under a green coat, pale yellow breeches, and black shoes. The black glaze on his hat has run down over his left shoulder during firing.
History note: John Henry Taylor collection; sold Sotheby's, 14th November 1930, Catalogue of the Valuable Collections of English Pottery & Porcelain, Glass, Objects of Vertu and Furniture, the Property of the late John Henry Taylor, Esq., Newstead, Birstall, Leicestershire, lot 592.
Purchased with the Glaisher Fund
Height: 23.7 cm
Width: 8 cm
Method of acquisition: Bought (1930-11-14) by Sotheby's
18th Century
Circa
1783
-
Circa
1795
This figure represents the Parable of the Lost Sheep in the Gospel of St Luke, 15: 3-7, and in St Matthew, 18: 10-14. It was paired with a female figure representing the Parable of the Lost Piece of Silver (see C.42-1930). The figures were probably made by Ralph Wood II, possibly during his partnership with his cousin, Enoch Wood ,c. 1783-9, or when potting on his own between then and his death in 1795. 'Men with lost sheep, costing 9d each were mentioned in an order from Josiah and Thomas Wedgwood (Wedgwood MSS 11496.12) dated 16 November 1783, and a pair of 'Man with lost sheep & Woman with lost piece cold.' (coloured), costing 2s.0d. were bought from Ralph Wood by his brother, the potter, John Wood, and were recorded in his sales ledger on 25 January 1787. The models may have continued to be made by Ralph Wood III from 1795 until his death in 1801. An example of each figure marked 'Ra.Wood/Burslem' was recorded by Frank Falkener in 1912.
Decoration
composed of
metallic oxides
( to colour glaze blue, green, pale yellow, pale brown, and black)
lead-glaze
Base
Depth 0.9 cm
cream Earthenware
Accession number: C.41-1930
Primary reference Number: 74959
Glaisher Addition number: Gl.Add.10-1939
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 (2024) "The Lost Sheep" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/74959 Accessed: 2024-11-21 23:47:14
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/74959
|title=The Lost Sheep
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-21 23:47:14|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-74959
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/aa8/C_41_1930_281_29.jpg"
alt="The Lost Sheep"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Lost Sheep</figcaption>
</figure>
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