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The Duke of Wellington (standing)
Production: Unidentified factory
White earthenware figure moulded in three parts, with separately moulded left arm, and pearlware glazed. Painted in cobalt blue and black underglaze and in black, grey, red green, purple and flesh pink enamels, and gilt.
The rectangular base is rounded to the back and its corners cut off to the front. The name ‘WELLINGTON’ is inscribed on the front of the base, in raised and gilded capitals, on a raised plaque. Wellington stands in contemplative pose, carrying a scroll of papers in his left hand and white gloves in his right, which rests on his hip. The figure is well coloured. He wears: a blue frock-coat, trimmed with gold; a red-trimmed waistcoat, delicately painted with green and purple motifs; a gilded cravat; trousers, painted in feathered stripes of purple; and shiny black shoes. A gold, star-shaped order hangs on a gold chain around his neck. The face is finely moulded and painted; the hair and sideburns are grey. The underside is concave and glazed, with a central vent hole. The back is moulded and coloured, though without detailed decoration.
History note: Bought from Mrs. Solomon at her shop (in a passage between Charingcross Road, and St Martin’s Lane) on 10 March, 1906, for £2.0.0, by Dr Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Dr J.W.L.Glaisher Bequest, 1928
Depth: 11 cm
Depth: 4.375 in
Height: 41.3 cm
Height: 16.25 in
Width: 15.5 cm
Width: 6.125 in
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Mid#
Victorian
Circa
1845
CE
-
Circa
1850
CE
Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) was a British Field Marshall and elder statesman.. He is perhaps best known for his victory over the French, led by Napoleon, at Waterloo on 18 June 1815. From 1828-30 he was Prime Minister. From 1834-1835, he served as Foreign Secretary under Sir Robert Peel, supporting, inter alia, Peel’s reform of the Corn Laws. It is possible that this figure was made as a pair with one of Peel (see Pugh, pp.219,232). The Corn Laws were repealed in 1846 and Wellington is here a grey-haired statesman, which suggests that the date of the figure may be c.1845-1850.
Rackham (1935) lists this figure as of a type made chiefly by Sampson Smith at Longton, a factory listed in contemporary directories as a ‘manufacturer of figures in great variety’. But Samson Smith began only around 1851, and figures manufactured there more usually had a broad, simplified moulding, without subsidiary parts, a flat back and an oval base. It is more likely that this figure was made by one of the many other manufacturers of figures working in Staffordshire at this time.
Decoration composed of enamels ( black, grey, red green, purple and flesh pink) underglaze cobalt-blue underglaze black gold
Press-moulding
: White earthenware moulded in three parts, with separately moulded left arm, and pearlware glazed. Painted in cobalt blue and black underglaze and in black, grey, red green, purple and flesh pink enamels, and gilt. The underside is concave and glazed, with a central vent hole. The back is moulded and coloured, though without detailed decoration.
Lead-glazing
Inscription present: ‘WELLINGTON’ is inscribed in raised and gilded capitals, on a raised plaque.
Accession number: C.1001-1928
Primary reference Number: 71118
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) "The Duke of Wellington (standing)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/71118 Accessed: 2024-11-12 20:34:04
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/71118
|title=The Duke of Wellington (standing)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-12 20:34:04|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://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-71118
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa2/C_1001_1928_281_29.jpg"
alt="The Duke of Wellington (standing)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Duke of Wellington (standing)</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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