Anthropomorphic vessel: C.1433-1928

Titles

• Figure of Nobody

Tin-glazed and painted earthenware vessel in the form of a man smoking a pipe, initialled and dated 'M/RM/1675'

Buff earthenware, moulded, pierced, tin-glazed, and painted in blue, pale turquoise-green, yellow, and orange. Nobody stands with his feet together, his left hand resting on his hip, and his right hand outstretched and holding a pipe which he is puffing. The pipe was made separately and attached. The roughly circular mound base has a pierced border of single holes alternating with pairs of smaller holes, some of which are filled with glaze. The underside is initialled and dated 'M/RM/1675'

Cyril Andrade, London from whom purchased on 13 October 1926 for £21 by Dr Glaisher.

Named entities

• Anthropomorphic vessel
• English delftware

Legal notes

Dr. J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Acquisition and important dates

• Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
• Dates: 1928-12-07

Dating

• Late 17th Century
• Charles II
• Production date: dated CE 1675 : dated

Maker(s)

• Possibly Brislington Pottery
Pottery
• uncertain
Pottery

Note

This figure was earlier attributed to London, probably Southwark, but Brislington Pottery has been suggested as an alternative.

Nobody is a non-existent person who is blamed for mishaps and minor misdemeanours. This figure resembles an illustration of Nobody on the title page of Nobody and Somebody, a play published in London in 1606.

Place(s) associated

• London ⪼ England

Measurements and weight

• Height: 23.3 cm

Agents depicted

• Nobody

Subjects depicted

• Tobacco pipe
• Smoking

Components of the work

• Decoration composed of high-temperature colours ( blue, pale turquoise-green, yellow, and orange)
• Base measuring: Diameter by cm by 10.6

Materials used in production

• buff Earthenware
• Tin-glaze

Techniques used in production

• Moulding : Buff earthenware, moulded in parts, tin-glazed, and painted in blue, pale turquoise-green, yellow, and orange.
• Tin-glazing

Inscription or legends present

• Text: M/RM/1675
• Location: On underside of base
• Method of creation: Painted in blue
• Type: Inscription

Associated department: Applied Arts

References and bibliographic entries

• Catalogue of the Glaisher Collection of Pottery and Porcelain in the Fitzwilliam Museum Cambridge page(s): 182
• Treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum page(s): 69
• Fitzwilliam Museum Handbooks, English Pottery page(s): 28-9
• Treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum. An illustrated souvenir of the collections page(s): 154
• Dated English Delftware
• A Collector's History of English Pottery
• Delftware in the Fitzwilliam Museum page(s): 338-9
• Book Review: Delftware in the Fitzwilliam Museum page(s): 90
• Treasured Possessions from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
• The Picture of Nobody page(s): 60-104
• To the Highest Bidder: the Auction of a Porcelain Shop in Amsterdam in 1778 page(s): 71
• Important Chinese Export Porcelain and Chinese Works of Art from the Collection of the late Mildred R. and Rufi Y. Mottahedeh

Related exhibitions

• Treasured Possessions from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment

Identification numbers

• Accession number: C.1433-1928
• Primary reference Number: 71996
• Old object number: 4440
• Stable URI

Audit data

• Created: Saturday 6 August 2011
• Updated: Tuesday 16 March 2021
• Last processed: Thursday 8 April 2021
• Data source: Adlib

Associated institutions

• The Fitzwilliam Museum