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The Prodigal Son (Gay Life)
Factory:
Unidentified Pottery
Decorator:
unidentified enameller
Lead-glazed creamware painted 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 with a double moulded line around the edge. 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. On the right in the scene in the middle of the plate is the Prodigal Son leaning over a table to embrace a woman with bare breasts, who strokes his chin with one hand and holds a wine glass in the other. At the other end of the table sits another bare-breasted woman and a woman in a red dress with a wine glass. On the table is a large ham and in front of it is a bottle labelled ‘SHERRY’. In the background are arches and columns covered in wavy red lines to create a marble effect. Beneath the scene is the title: ‘GAΫ LIFE’. Marked on base with impressed lozenge.
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
Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest
Diameter: 25.1 cm
Height: 2.7 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
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 scene on this plate is from the middle of the parable: it shows the Prodigal Son squandering his wealth on worldly pleasures.
clear
Lead-glaze
cream-coloured
Earthenware
Enamels
Press-moulding
: Press-moulded cream-coloured earthenware covered in a clear lead-glaze and painted overglaze in coloured enamels
Painting overglaze
Lead-glazing
Inscription present: lozenge
Inscription present: circular, stick-on paper label with border printed in black with ‘J. W. L. GLAISHER COLLECTION’
Inscription present: rectangle of white paper
Accession number: C.1184C-1928
Primary reference Number: 71474
Old catalogue number: 4610(2)
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 Prodigal Son (Gay Life)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/71474 Accessed: 2024-12-25 17:37:44
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/71474
|title=The Prodigal Son (Gay Life)
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-12-25 17:37:44|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-71474
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<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa2/C_1184C__1928.jpg"
alt="The Prodigal Son (Gay Life)"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Prodigal Son (Gay Life)</figcaption>
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