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Dish: A Voyage to the Moon: C.1567-1928

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Object information

Current Location: Gallery 27 (Glaisher)

Titles

Dish: A Voyage to the Moon

Maker(s)

Potter: Frank, Richard
Pottery: Temple Back Pottery
Painter: Flower, Joseph

Entities

Categories

Description

Tin-glazed earthenware painted in blue with a scene entitled ‘A VOYAGE TO/The MOON by/Domingo Gonsales/from the Ile of/ Teneriffe’.

Tin-glazed earthenware painted in blue and reddish-brown. Circular, with a narrow rim and shallow curved well, standing on a footring. The front is decorated with a scene showing a steep hill with sponged trees around its base surrounded on three sides by the sea. Overhead a man seated on a bar is carried upwards by birds towards a crescent moon at top left. Below, to the left of the rock is a shaped panel inscribed, ‘A Voyage to/The MOON by/Domingo Gonsales/from the Ile of/ Teneriffe’. To the left of it there is a ship under sail flying the English flag and two smaller sailing boats, and in the foreground there are three manned rowing boats. The edge is reddish-brown. The back is signed in blue, ‘I.F./1740/. At the junction of the rim and well there are alternating III and motifs resembling twigs.

Notes

History note: Mr W.C. Wells, Le Chalet, East Lane, Wembley, who offered it to Dr J.W.L. Glaisher in a letter of 24 May 1915 for £6.10s.0d. Glaisher accepted the offer, and the dish arrived in Cambridge, on 31 May.

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Diameter: 33.8 cm

Place(s) associated

  • Bristol ⪼ England

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

18th Century, Mid
George II
Production date: AD 1740 : dated

Note

The initials on the back are for the painter, Joseph Flower. The design was taken from the frontispiece to 'The Man in the Moone; or A Discourse of a Voyage Thither by Domingo Gonsales, the Speedy Messenger' the pseudonym of Francis Godwin (1562-1633), Bishop successively of Llandaff and Hereford. Published in 1638, it was one of the earliest works of science fiction in English. There were several editions of the book, and the print is not always situated at the front..

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of cobalt

Materials used in production

Tin-glaze
Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Moulding : Earthenware, moulded, tin-glazed, and painted in cobalt-blue
Tin-glazing

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: A VOYAGE TO/The MOON by/Domingo Gonsales/from the Ile of/ Teneriffe
  • Location: On front
  • Method of creation: Painted in blue
  • Type: Inscription
  • Text: I.F./1740/.
  • Location: On back
  • Method of creation: Painted in blue
  • Type: Initials and date

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.1567-1928
Primary reference Number: 72234
Old object number: 3748
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 16 August 2019 Last processed: Friday 16 February 2024

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) "Dish: A Voyage to the Moon" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/72234 Accessed: 2024-11-02 20:20:16

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/72234 |title=Dish: A Voyage to the Moon |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 20:20:16|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-72234

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