Current Location: In storage
Titles
The Archangel Raphael, Tobias, a Dog and a Fish
Maker(s)
Production:
Unknown
Entities
Categories
Description
Lead-glazed earthenware figures of the Archangel Raphael,Tobias, a dog and a fish, with two cylindrical containers on either side
Cream earthenware, probably coated with cream slip, lead-glazed and painted in blue, green, dark yellow and manganese-brown glazes (?) or enamels. In the middle there is a roughly circular mound which has an open tree trunk on the right side of the top, and at the front, is hollowed out to represent the bank of a river with a cave on the right, and rocks on the left. On either side of the mound there is a circular projection containing a cylindrical pot. The Archangel Raphael stands on the top of the mound beside the tree trunk. His left arm is raised, but has lost its hand. His right arm is missing from the elbow down. He is winged, has shoulder-length curling hair. He wears a long close-fitting gown with a broad, cape-like collar ornamented with two cockle shells on either side of the front opening. A dog with floppy ears stands beside him, and further to the viewer's left, Tobias sits on the bank at the edge of the river. He wears a shirt, jacket and breeches, and has a bag and a flask (?) suspended from a belt. A large fish with its mouth open swims out of the cave towards the viewer. The figures, dog, and the two containers are undecorated. The mound, tree trunk, and the rocky edges of the circular projections are daubed with patches of all the colours. The river is blue, and the fish is green, yellow, and brown.
Notes
History note: Possibly from Ghent; Mrs Hewell, of Lares et Penates in Baker Street, from whom purchased for £2.10s. on 18 March 1926 by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Legal notes
Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest
Measurements and weight
Height: 22.2 cm
Acquisition and important dates
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(1928-12-07)
by
Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
Note
This is a puzzling object. It was catalogued as an ink stand and as faïence by Rackham in his Catalogue of the Glaisher Collection in 1935, but it appears to be coated with slip and lead-glazed, or possibly tin-glazed and then lead-glazed. If it was an inkstand, the containers may have held a liner, and have had a cover, while the quill pens could have been lodged in the open tree trunk. Although the figures are not in the same positions, the central part of the object is reminiscent of a large silver sculpture (69 cm high) of the same subject made about 1780 by the Neapolitan sculptor, Giuseppe Sanmartino (1720-93), and now in the Minnisota Museum of Art (inv. no. 2015.24.1).
People, subjects and objects depicted
Components of the work
Decoration
composed of
enamels
( doubtful, could be coloured glazes)
Surface
composed of
lead-glaze
( over tin-glaze or cream slip)
slip
( possibly slip instead of tin-glaze)
tin-glaze
Base
Depth 14.5 cm
Width 31.5 earthenware
Visible Surface
Materials used in production
Earthenware
Techniques used in production
Press moulding
References and bibliographic entries
Identification numbers
Accession number: C.2385-1928
Primary reference Number: 76743
Old object number: 4840
Stable URI
Audit data
Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
Updated: Tuesday 22 July 2025
Last processed: Tuesday 22 July 2025
Associated departments & institutions
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
