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Female Spanish Dancer: C.46-1930

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Object information

Current Location: Gallery 27 (Glaisher)

Titles

Female Spanish Dancer

Maker(s)

Potter: Wood, Ralph, II
Potter: Wood, Ralph, III (Perhaps)

Entities

Categories

Description

Lead-glazed earthenware figure of a woman playing a friction drum

Cream earthenware, press-moulded and decorated with translucent blue-tinted, green, pale yellow, brown, and black lead-glazes and two spots of blue for the eyes; and with remnants of gilding. The figure is supported on a straight-sided square base which is hollow underneath, and has a circular ventilation hole in the middle. The woman stands on a low rocky mound with a green flower on the viewer's right of it. Her head is turned towards her right. She steps forward on her left foot, and under her left arm holds a yellow cylindrical friction drum, which she is playing with a stick held in her right hand. She wears a conical black cap with traces of gilding, and has her hair drawn back into a knot at the nape of her neck with a long tress resting on her back. She wears a white chemise under a brown bodice, a green shawl, a long pale yellow skirt, a bluish-white apron, and black shoes (only one visible).

Notes

History note: Stoner & Evans, London

Legal notes

Purchased with the Glaisher Fund

Measurements and weight

Height: 20.5 cm
Width: 7.5 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Burslem ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1930-11-14) by Stoner & Evans

Dating

18th Century, Late
George III
Circa 1787 CE - Circa 1800 CE

Note

This Spanish muscian is paired with a man holding castanets, C.45-1930, which is marked 'Ra.Wood/Burslem/71', and may not have been its original companion . The pair is usually referred to as the Spanish Dancers, They were made by either Ralph Wood II or his son Ralph Wood III. The models were in production by 1787 when John Wood's sales ledger records on 25 January that he had bought from his brother Ralph '1 pr Spanish figures suppose dancing' for 3 shillings. as part of an order for Andrew Barr. Marked examples probably date from 1789 -1801 when Ralph, and after his death in 1795, his son, were working at the Hill Pottery in Burslem.

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of lead-glaze ( clear bluish, green, pale yello, greyish- brown, and black) gold ( traces on cap)
Base Depth 6.7 cm Width 6.8 cm

Materials used in production

cream Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Press-moulding : Cream earthenware, press-moulded in parts and assembled, decorated with translucent bluish, and green, pale-yellow, greyish-brown, and black lead-glazes with two spots of blue glaze for eyes, and traces of gilding on the cap

Inscription or legends present

Inscription present: very faint numbers

  • Text: ? /207
  • Location: On base
  • Method of creation: Hand-written
  • Type: Inscription

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.46-1930
Primary reference Number: 75181
Glaisher Addition number: Gl.Add.16-1930
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 11 January 2023 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 2023

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 (2024) "Female Spanish Dancer" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/75181 Accessed: 2024-12-07 05:24:53

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/75181 |title=Female Spanish Dancer |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-07 05:24:53|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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