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The Death of Cleopatra
Factory: Wood & Caldwell (Probably)
Earthenware with slightly blue tinted lead-glaze, painted in enamels
White earthenware, press-moulded, coated with blue-tinted lead-glaze, and painted in pale bluish-green, yellowish-green, yellow, flesh pink, orange, red, mauve, brown, and black enamels. The underside is open and glazed. Cleopatra reclines on an oblong mound base, painted in green and shades of brown to resemble grassy rocks, and decorated on the top of the front with applied flowers: yellow, and white, yellow and red, and red. She leans on her left arm and has her right bent over her head. Her left leg is crossed over her right. She wears a long white gown with a floral patttern, yellow lining and edging, which reveals her breasts and part of her stomach. A pale pinkish-mauve scarve is wrapped around her hips and thighs, and a green shawl is draped over her head and back.Her sandals have brown soles and red straps A green snake is wrapped around her upper left arm and bites her breast.
History note: Percy Fitzgerald, FSA; sold Christie's 24 January, 1908, Catalogue of the earthenware collection of Staffordshire ware formed during the past forty years by Percy Fitzgerald Esq., FSA of 37 St George’s Road, S.W. part of lot 57; bought by Thomas Sutton for a hammer price of £14 14s 0d on behalf of Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge
Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest
Height: 21.6 cm
Width: 33 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Early#
George III
Circa
1810
CE
-
1820
CE
This figure was derived from the antique marble known as the Vatican Cleopatra, and later identified as Ariadne in the Galleria delle Statue in the Vatican, probably through the medium of a reduced size bronze, or a plaster cast. This model reclines more than the marble, and the snake bracelet on the left arm of the original, has been transformed into the asp which killed Cleopatra. The figure is accompanied by a reclining Mark Anthony wearing a lustred cuirass (C.909-1928), which suggests a date for both of c. 1810-20, although he is not a true pair with Cleopatra.
Decoration composed of enamel ( shades of green, yellow, orange, pink, red, and brown)
white
Earthenware
Lead-glaze
Press-moulding
: White earthenware, press-moulded in two halves with the head and arms moulded separately and applied, lead-glazed and painted in shades of green, yellow, orange, pink, red, and brown
Lead-glazing
Inscription present: Rectangular white paper label with blue printed leaf motifs in each corner
Accession number: C.908-1928
Primary reference Number: 76342
Old object number: 2892
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 Death of Cleopatra" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76342 Accessed: 2024-11-05 15:37:13
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/76342
|title=The Death of Cleopatra
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-05 15:37:13|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-76342
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/aa32/C_908_1928_1_201505_jas244_dc2.jpg"
alt="The Death of Cleopatra"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Death of Cleopatra</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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