Mansion House Dwarf
Factory:
Derby Porcelain Factory
Proprietor:
William Duesbury & Co.
Printmaker:
Callot, Jacques
(After)
Soft-paste porcelain figure of a dwarf with a prominent paunch, painted in polychrome enamels
Soft-paste porcelain figure of a dwarf, slip cast, and painted overglaze in turquoise, green, yellow, flesh pink, pink, puce, red, grey, and black enamels. The unglazed underside has a large circular ventilation hold in the centre surrounded by three patch marks. The roughly circular low mound base, has a tree stump in the middle which supports the figure. The dwarf stands with his feet together slightly pigeon-toed . He has his left hand on his paunch, and in his right holds a small drumstick or rattle. He has greyish-black hair, brows, and eyes, pink cheeks andna large red mouth. He wears an enormous pale turquoise slouch hat, with a puce underside to the brim, which is turned up at the front. A red ribbon is arround the crown, and a bunch of turquoise and yellow leaves (?) is attached to the proper left side. He has a white shirt under a yellow bodice decorated with playing cards, a shovel, tongues, griddle and a mask, all black, and down the front with mulitcolour harlequin pattern, and puce buttons. Around his waist (if one can call it that) he has a green sash with puce borders on the ends. His legs are striped in yellow, puce, and turquoise, and he has black shoes. A pair with C.77-1933
History note: Unknown before donor
The Rev. A.V. Valentine-Richards Bequest
Height: 17.5 cm
Width: 10.7 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1933) by Valentine-Richards, A. V., The Rev
18th Century, Late
George III
Production date:
circa
AD 1780
The design source for this dwarf was an etching by Jacques Callot ‘L’homme au gros ventre orné d’une rangée de boutons' in the series entitled 'Varie figure gobbi di Jacopo Callot', executed in Florence in 1616, and published in 1622, . See Documention, Lieure, 1927.
This model and its companion were mentioned in the Derby Sale Catalogue of 1784, and were described as ‘Pair of Grotesque Punches’ in Haslem’s Price List of Groups and Single Figures, made at Derby. See Documentation, 1876. They cost 18s.0d. enamelled and gilt.
Decoration composed of enamel ( turquoise, green, yellow, flesh pink, pink, puce, red, grey, and black enamel)
presumed lead-glaze
Lead-glaze
Soft-paste porcelain
Slip casting
: Soft-paste porcelain, slip cast, lead-glazed and painted overglaze in turquoise, green, yellow, flesh pink, pink, puce, red, grey, and black enamels. The underside is unglazed and has a large circular ventilation hole and three patch marks.
Lead-glazing
Accession number: C.76-1933
Primary reference Number: 82504
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) "Mansion House Dwarf" Web page available at: https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/82504 Accessed: 2024-12-31 18:10:48
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/id/object/82504
|title=Mansion House Dwarf
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-31 18:10:48|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-82504
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