Skip to main content

The Prodigal Son: C.1184-1928

An image of Plate

Terms of use

These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.

Download this image

Creative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.

Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

The Prodigal Son

Maker(s)

Factory: Unidentified Pottery
Decorator: unidentified enameller

Entities

Categories

Description

Lead-glazed creamware decorated in enamels with scene from the parable of the Prodigal Son.

Pale cream-coloured earthenware covered in a clear lead-glaze and painted overglaze with coloured enamels. The plate has a six-lobed wavy rim bordered by a double moulded line. Each lobe is painted with red, yellow and blue bands around the edge and yellow scrolls, green leaves and a red cross in the centre. The scene in the middle of the plate shows the Prodigal Son and his brother receiving their patrimony from their father. The father is sat at a table on which is a jar labelled ‘4600 DUCATS’ and a pile of coins. He holds bills labelled ‘2000’, ‘400’, ‘300’ and ‘100’. The two brothers stand to his left and reach out to take the money. In the background, there are arches and columns, painted in imitation of red-veined marble; the tabletop also displays this marble effect. Beneath the scene is the title: ‘THE PRODIGAL SON’. Marked on the based with an impressed lozenge.

Notes

History note: Provenance unidentified before Mr Stoner, London, who sold as part of set of six plates (C.1184-1928 – C.1184E-1928) for £26 on 13 January 1919 to Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 25.1 cm
Height: 2.7 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr

Note

Although the plate itself is of English manufacture, the overglaze painted decoration is thought to be Dutch. The Prodigal Son scenes on the plates are a common motif on Dutch decorated English creamware, often appearing with Dutch captions rather than the English ones. Some of scenes from this set of plates appear with different English captions on three stylistically comparable plates in the Metropolitan Museum in New York (1971.180.199-201).

The lozenge mark on the plate is listed in Godden’s ‘Encyclopaedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks’ as being a workman’s mark used at the Swansea pottery c.1800-10 but Donald Towner suggests it also appears on 18th-century creamware, sometimes in conjunction with Wedgwood marks.

This plate belongs to a set of six (C.1184-1928 - C.1184E-1928) which illustrates the parable of the Prodigal Son. The scenes on the plates are derived from Richard Purcell’s prints, published in London in that early 1750s, after a series of paintings of the Prodigal Son by the French artist Sebastien le Clerc. This plate shows the beginning of the parable: the father giving his patrimony to the Prodigal Son and his brother.

People, subjects and objects depicted

Materials used in production

clear Lead-glaze
cream-coloured Earthenware
Enamels

Techniques used in production

Press-moulding : Press-moulded cream-coloured earthenware covered in a clear lead-glaze and painted overglaze in coloured enamels
Painting overglaze
Lead-glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: THE PRODIGAL SON
  • Location: Below image in centre of plate
  • Method of creation: Painted overglaze in black enamel
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: 4600 DUCAT
  • Location: On jar on table
  • Method of creation: Painted overglaze in black enamel
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: 2000
  • Location: On bill
  • Method of creation: Painted overglaze in black enamel
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: 400
  • Location: On bill
  • Method of creation: Painted overglaze in black enamel
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: 300
  • Location: On bill
  • Method of creation: Painted overglaze in black enamel
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: 100
  • Location: On bill
  • Method of creation: Painted overglaze in black enamel
  • Type: Inscription

Inscription present: lozenge

  • Location: On base
  • Method of creation: Impressed
  • Type: Mark

Inscription present: circular, stick-on paper label with border printed in black with ‘J. W. L. GLAISHER COLLECTION’

  • Text: 4610(4)
  • Location: On base
  • Method of creation: Handwritten in black ink
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.1184-1928
Primary reference Number: 71471
Old catalogue number: 4610(4)
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2020 Last processed: Monday 23 October 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) "The Prodigal Son" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/71471 Accessed: 2024-11-04 18:10:32

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/71471 |title=The Prodigal Son |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-04 18:10:32|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

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-71471

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

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_1184_1928.jpg"
        alt="The Prodigal Son"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Prodigal Son</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>
    

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...