Lady playing a Lute: C.36-1992

Titles

Lady playing a Lute

Maker(s)

Derby Porcelain Factory (Factory)
William Duesbury & Co. (Proprietor)

Description

Soft-paste porcelain figure of a lady playing a mandoline, seated on a rock on a low base edged with a scroll, shell, and acanthus, painted in enamels

Soft-paste porcelain figure of a lady playing a mandoline, slip-cast, lead-glazed, and painted onglaze in blue, turquoise, green, yellow, pink, brownish-red, mauve, grey, and black enamels, and lightly gilt. The underside is unglazed, and slightly rought with three patch marks, and has a small ventilation hole at the back. The base is roughly circular with a frilled scroll on the viewer's left, a shell at the front, and an acanthus leaf on the right. It rises up at the back into a rock, which is pierced by a circular hole to take an attachment, probably a candle branch. The woman sits, leaning forward slightly, and holding her lute in both hands. She a white round cap trimmed with turquoise ribbon, a white open robe with a multicolour floral pattern, yellow lining and robings, and white ruffles at the elbows, a mauve stomacher, and a white petticoat with a pattern of small mauve flowers, and foliage, and pale mauve shoes. A narrow gold line runs round the hem.The base is picked out in puce, and turquoise, and there are touches of gold on the top of the shell.

Notes

History note: Dr and Mrs Hugh Statham; died respectively 1967 and 1970; their daughter Miss Beryl Statham, by whom lent anonymously in 1970; bequeathed by Miss Beryl Statham, 1990; accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax, and allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum

Legal notes

Bequeathed by Miss Statham, accepted by H.M. Government in lieu of Inheritance Tax, and allocated to the Fitzwilliam Museum

Place(s) associated

• Derby ⪼ Derbyshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Allocated (1992) by H.M. Government

Dating

Mid 18th Century
George II
Circa 1756 - 1760

Note

This figure is one of the Pale Family Derby models. It may represent the sense of Hearing. The model was adapted from an earlier dry-edge model of Taste, derived from a Meissen lady in a group by Kaendler.

School or Style

Rococo