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Mug: C.2044-1928

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Object information

Current Location: Gallery 27 (Glaisher)

Maker(s)

Production: Unidentified Westerwald pottery

Entities

Categories

Description

Grey salt-glazed stoneware with relief decoration painted in manganese-purple and blue. On the front is a half figure of Queen Mary II of England with her name and title, flanked by branching stems of stylized flowers and buds

Stoneware, with applied moulded decoration, painted with manganese-purple and cobalt blue (as smalt), and salt-glazed. The pear-shaped mug has a wide neck and a loop handle. On the front, in an octagonal panel flanked by branching stems scratched into the body and terminating in applied formal flowers and buds against a blue ground, is a half-figure of Queen Mary II of England with the legend: 'MARIA. D. G. MAG. BRIT. FRANC. ET. HIB. REGINA' (Mary, by the Grace of God, Queen of Great Britain, France, and Ireland).

Notes

History note: Sotheby's, 5 June, 1905, lot ; Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest

Measurements and weight

Height: 14.3 cm
Width: 11.5 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

17th Century, Late
William III and Mary II
Circa 1689 - 1694

Note

The stoneware industry in the Westerwald developed first in the area of three villages, Höhr, Grenzau and Grenzhausen (currently Höhr-Grenzhausen), where potters formed a guild in 1643, and expanded to other villages in the area. Production increased greatly after the end of the Thirty Years War in 1648, and Westerwald stoneware was exported on a large scale to other parts of Europe, including Britain. This mug was presumably exported to England where Queen Mary II reigned with her husband, William III, from 1689 until her death from smallpox in 1694. Typically Westerwald stonewares had a pale grey body with incised or applied relief decoration coloured in blue derived from cobalt, or blue and manganese-purple applied before salt-glazing during firing.

School or Style

Baroque

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Deoration composed of smalt ( produced by fusing cobalt with an alkali, usually potash, and sand, grinding to a powder and mixing with water)
Decoration composed of manganese-oxide
Surface composed of salt-glaze
Base Diameter 5.5 cm
Body

Materials used in production

grey Stoneware

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: MARIA. D. G.MAG.BRIT.FRANC. ET. HIB. REGINA
  • Location: Around the image of Queen Mary
  • Method of creation: Moulded in relief
  • Type: Inscription

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.2044-1928
Primary reference Number: 73044
Old object number: 2261
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 21 February 2023 Last processed: Wednesday 13 December 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) "Mug" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/73044 Accessed: 2024-11-15 12:41:51

Citation for Wikipedia

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/73044 |title=Mug |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-15 12:41:51|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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