The Vicar and Moses: C.916-1928

Titles

The Vicar and Moses

Maker(s)

Production: Unidentified factory

Entities

• Figure group
• Staffordshire figure group (early)

Categories

• Lead-glazed earthenware

Description

Earthenware figure group, moulded and modelled, lead-glazed and painted with polychrome enamels.

Staffordshire figure group of a square double pulpit; at the top, a sleeping vicar with his head resting on his left hand; at the bottom, a speaking clerk with his left hand raised in benediction; each figure has his right hand draped over the front of his pulpit, on which rests an open bible. The vicar wears a wig and clerical dress, the clerk has brown hair and wears a brown jacket and striped waistcoat, the bibles are edged in blue. The pulpit is red brown and decorated with four small modeled angels. The back is flat but painted. The underside is flat and unglazed, with a large central vent hole.

Notes

History note: Bought from Mr Woolstan of Hyde Park Corner, Cambridge, on 4 December 1905, for 15/- (fifteen shillings), by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge.

Legal notes

Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest, 1928

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

19th Century, Early#
Circa 1810 - Circa 1835

Note

Pearlware figures decorated with enamels and showing scenes from everyday life and topical events became popular in the early 19th Century. Early examples are often complex, with modelled and moulded parts and applied decoration; the backs, though flat, are decorated. However, by c.1835 these methods had largely given way to three-part press-moulding which enabled faster and cheaper production for a growing market.

The earliest Staffordshire figure groups of The Vicar and Moses were decorated with coloured glazes and made by Ralph Wood of Burslem, c. 1782-1795. Similar groups decorated in enamel colours, like this one, appeared from the early 1800s and versions were made throughout the century. Although these all feature the double pulpit and sleeping vicar, variations in quality and modelling show they were produced by different potters - the Fitzwilliam holds two such different versions – and there are also later copies in circulation. Another group with the same title was made by Enoch Wood, c.1790-1810, and shows the clerk leading the drunken vicar home. A satirical ballad, ‘The Vicar and Moses’, by George Alexander Stevens, published c. 1772, which tells of a drunken vicar assisted in his duties by his clerk, Moses, almost certainly influenced the production of both these groups. The double pulpit format here seems to be inspired by William Hogarth's engraving, ‘The Sleeping Congregation’, which shows the vicar preaching while his Clerk and the congregation sleep, first published in 1736.