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Turkeycock: C.3085-1928

Object information

Current Location: Gallery 26 (Lower Marlay)

Titles

Turkeycock

Maker(s)

Factory: Longton Hall Porcelain Manufactory
Potter: Littler, William

Entities

Categories

Description

Soft-paste porcelain figure of a Turkeycock of 'Snowmen' type. Glassy soft-paste porcelain, slip-cast (?) with thick, bubbly, clear lead-glaze with minute black speckles here and there.

Soft-paste porcelain figure of a Turkeycock of 'Snowmen' type. Glassy soft-paste porcelain, slip-cast (?) with thick, bubbly, clear lead-glaze with minute black speckles here and there. The flat underside is unglazed apart from dribbles of glaze round the front edge, and has a large circular ventilation hole in the centre. The rounded four-sided base has a rock at the back and three applied daisies in front of it. The turkeycock has his tail spread out, and stands on his right leg with his left resting on the rock. A vine bearing groups of applied leaves and bunches of grapes climbs up the front of the rock and over the back of the turkeycock, terminating in a vertical cup-like projection, perhaps to serve as a taperstick holder. There are three turquoise marks in the glaze, two on the rock below the turkeycock's tail and one on the back of its right leg.

Notes

History note: Purchased at Frome, Somerset in 1918 with C.3086-1928 for £2.10s.0d. by A.G.W. Murray, Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge, who sold them for the same sum to Dr J.W. L. Glaisher, also of Trinity College, on 16 October 1918.

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 18.2 cm
Width Beak To Tail: 13.4 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Longton Hall ⪼ Staffordshire ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

18th Century, Mid#
George II
Circa 1750 CE - 1752 CE

Note

The figure belongs to the group of early Longton Hall figures described as 'snowmen' because of their thick glaze which obscures details of the modelling.

The glassy soft-paste porcelain of Longton Hall contained flint glass, ground flint, gypsum, limestone, and ball clay. The lead in the glass permitted it to fuse at a lower temperature, but also made it prone to warp or collapse during firing. This is shown by many warped waster fragments excavated on the site.

School or Style

Rococo

Materials used in production

glassy type Soft-paste porcelain
presumed lead Lead-glaze

Techniques used in production

Slip-casting : Glassy soft-paste porcelain, slip-cast ? with thick, bubbly, clear lead-glaze with minute black speckles here and there
Glazing (coating)

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.3085-1928
Primary reference Number: 38095
Old object number: 4220, vol. 24
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Saturday 27 November 2021 Last processed: Friday 8 December 2023

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "Turkeycock" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/38095 Accessed: 2024-03-28 08:40:59

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/38095 |title=Turkeycock |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-03-28 08:40:59|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-38095

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