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Soup cup and saucer from ‘Travel’ series (balloon)
Factory:
Wedgwood
Designer:
Ravilious, Eric William
Earthenware soup cup and saucer, printed underglaze in black and painted overglaze in pale turquoise enamel.
'Windsor Grey' body. The cup, a flattened hemisphere, sits on a narrow recessed foot; it has two loop handles on opposite sides. The saucer (A) has shallow, curved sides with a central depression. The interior of the cup is decorated with `Ballooning' from `Travel' pattern: a turquoise-topped hot air balloon with a tiny figure in its basket, set between grey clouds; the outside is decorated round the top with black weather cones (?) alternating with turquoise semi-circles under curved black lines. The saucer is decorated en suite.
History note: Purchased from 'Gabor Cossa', Trumpington Street, Cambridge.
Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Method of acquisition: Given (1997-03-03) by The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
20th Century, Mid#
Elizabeth II
Production date:
AD 1954
Eric Ravilious (1903-42) studied engraving, illustration and colour printing at the Royal College of Art and by 1926-28 was exhibiting watercolours, producing book illustrations and commissioned to paint murals. In 1930 he married Eileen Lucy "Tirzah" Garwood (1908-1951) also a noted artist and engraver. From around 1936, he became one of Wedgwood’s most prolific freelance designers, although many of his designs were not produced in quantity until after World War II, during which he was killed while serving as a war artist with the Royal Marines. Wedgwood had revived the use of engraved designs in the mid 1930s – a mode of decoration which allowed the artist’s own work and ‘hand-writing’ to be reproduced in a factory setting, and well suited to Ravilious’ style.
Ravilious produced at least seven Wedgwood tableware pattern series, each with a number of vignettes on a single everyday theme, and sometimes also drew the tableware shapes for additions such as jam-pots. ‘Travel’ was designed c.1937 and first made in 1953. It was printed in black on a newly-introduced Windsor Grey body and hand coloured. A ‘Travel’ dinner service for six, depicting travel through snow and by balloon, bus, train, aeroplane, steamboat and sail, cost £17 3s 6d. Ravilious also designed commemorative wares, including a Coronation Mug for Edward VIII (1936), later adapted for the coronations of both George VI and Elizabeth II; a mug celebrating the company’s relocation to Barlaston (1939); and a ‘Boat Race Day’ bowl, cup and stand (1938). Earlier designs were engraved at the factory from Ravilious’ drawings, but the ‘Boat Race’ images were lithographs drawn by Ravilious himself for direct application to the ware.
Decoration
composed of
enamel
( pale turquoise)
Saucer (A)
Diameter 16.5 cm
Height 2.2 cm
Cup
Height 5.4 cm
Width 17 cm
'Windsor Grey' coloured body Earthenware
Moulding
: Earthenware, printed in black and painted in enamel
Glazing (coating)
Inscription present: circular mark, 'WEDGWOOD / MADE IN ENGLAND' in the centre
Inscription present: (‘IE’ may be ‘4’)
Accession number: C.16 & A-1997
Primary reference Number: 12105
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) "Soup cup and saucer from ‘Travel’ series (balloon)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/12105 Accessed: 2024-11-02 12:17:24
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/12105
|title=Soup cup and saucer from ‘Travel’ series (balloon)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 12:17:24|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-12105
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<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa6/C_16_20_26_20A_1997_281_29.jpg"
alt="Soup cup and saucer from ‘Travel’ series (balloon)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Soup cup and saucer from ‘Travel’ series (balloon)</figcaption>
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</div>
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