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Pug on a Cushion: C.800-1928

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Current Location: In storage

Titles

Pug on a Cushion

Maker(s)

Factory: Unidentified Staffordshire factory

Entities

Categories

Description

White salt-glazed stoneware figure of a pug dog on cushion.

White stoneware press-moulded and salt-glazed. The pug lies on a tall cushion with its head turned to one side and looking down. The cushion is decorated with vertical braids in relief. Dots of brown slip mark the eyes of the dog.

Notes

History note: Provenance unidentified before Stanley Woolston, Cambridge, who sold it for £4 on 20 August 1919 to Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest.

Measurements and weight

Height: 4 cm
Width: 5 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

18th Century, Mid
George II
Circa 1745 CE - Circa 1755 CE

Note

Pugs were a particularly popular breed of dog in 18th-century Europe, being a fashionable pet – the English painter William Hogarth (1697 1764) famously owned a pug called ‘Trump’ – and the symbol of the ‘Order of the Pug’, a secret society that developed after Pope Clement XII banned Freemasonry in 1738. Eager to capitalise on the popularity of the breed and to emulate the fashionable porcelain pugs produced by the Meissen factory in Dresden, many English potters produced their own pug models in salt-glazed stoneware and in other materials.

School or Style

Rococo

Components of the work

Eyes composed of slip ( brown)
Surface composed of salt-glaze

Materials used in production

white Stoneware

Techniques used in production

Press-moulding : White stoneware press-moulded with brown slip applied to the eyes and salt-glazed
Salt-glazing

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.800-1928
Primary reference Number: 76117
Old catalogue number: 4193

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) "Pug on a Cushion" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76117 Accessed: 2025-12-05 15:36:45

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76117 |title=Pug on a Cushion |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 15:36:45|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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