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Parrot: C.813-1928

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Current Location: In storage

Titles

Parrot

Maker(s)

Pottery: Unidentified Staffordshire Pottery

Entities

Categories

Description

White salt-glazed stoneware, decorated with brown slip and dark cobalt-blue pigment. The parrot stands on a brown rock. Its beak is brown and its eyes dark blue-black.

Notes

History note: Frank Stoner, London, from whom purchased on 12 November 1924 for £95 by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 27.4 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 1755 - 1760

Note

This bird resembles a parrot, but the base is similar to those supporting Chinese porcelain figures of hawks, also imitated in Delftware. An interest in natural history was an aspect of the European Enlightenment of the eighteenth century. Ornithology was particularly popular and the educated public became familiar with exotic species from imported specimens, and from reading illustrated books such as the four volumes of George Edwards, 'A Natural History Birds'. Some ceramic bird models were based on book illustrations or prints, and others on imported Chinese examples of hawks, parrots, and wading birds.

School or Style

Traditional format

Components of the work

Base And Beak composed of slip ( brown)
Eyes composed of cobalt-blue

Materials used in production

off-white Stoneware

Techniques used in production

Press-moulding
Salt-glazing

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.813-1928
Primary reference Number: 76144
Old object number: 4445

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) "Parrot" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76144 Accessed: 2025-12-05 08:30:06

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76144 |title=Parrot |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 08:30:06|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-76144

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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/aa7/C_813_1928_281_29.jpg"
        alt="Parrot"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Parrot</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

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