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Lion: C.835-1928

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Object information

Current Location: Gallery 27 (Glaisher)

Titles

Lion

Maker(s)

Production: Unidentified factory

Entities

Categories

Description

Earthenware figure, moulded with modelled additions, coloured with oxides and lead glazed.

Cream earthenware figure of a lion standing on a rocky base. Moulding and incisions define features such as the mane, eyebrows, ribs and toes and green and brown colours, sponged underglaze, enhance the form. The eyes, coloured dark manganese brown, appear to heave been modeled separately and inserted.The base, a high mound, is hollow and glazed.
The underside is open and glazed.

Notes

History note: Bought from Miss Kingsland of Croydon on 9 June 1913, for £7, by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge.

Legal notes

Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest, 1928

Measurements and weight

Height: 12.7 cm
Length: 17 cm
Width: 9.5 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

18th Century, third quarter#
Circa 1750 CE - Circa 1770 CE

Note

Rackham (1935) attributes this figure to Thomas Whieldon at Little Fenton. However, it is unmarked, and we now know that several other potters made figures at this time. Dr Glaisher, who called it a tiger, thought it ‘a very interesting piece of the pre-Whieldon period’ and noted he had seen another example.

This lion is a very early example of moulded earthenware animal figures made (mainly) in Staffordshire. The shaded colouring is produced by brown and green oxide colours under the glaze. A very similar example is found with clear glaze over the cream earthenware body and a brown coloured base and the existence of similarly modelled buffalos and elephants suggests that wild animals in general were a popular subject.

Components of the work

Decoration composed of high temperature colour ( manganese oxide) lead-glaze
Parts

Materials used in production

cream and dark brown Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Moulding : Cream earthenware, moulded and modelled, and decorated with manganese-oxide under lead glaze

Inscription or legends present

  • Type: No visible mark
  • Text: 3694 pottery tiger with glaze being coloured. Interesting [\'85? before ] Ralph Wood. b. at Croydon, June 12, 1913
  • Location: Underside of base
  • Method of creation: Rectangular paper label handwritten in black ink
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.835-1928
Primary reference Number: 76203
Old object number: 3694
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Saturday 10 June 2023 Last processed: Thursday 7 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) "Lion" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76203 Accessed: 2024-11-06 21:16:48

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/76203 |title=Lion |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-06 21:16:48|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/api/v1/objects/object-76203

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        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Lion</figcaption>
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