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The Lost Piece: C.42-1930

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Current Location: Gallery 27 (Glaisher)

Titles

The Lost Piece

Maker(s)

Potter: Wood, Ralph, II (Probably)

Entities

Categories

Description

Earthenware figure of a woman decorated with coloured lead glazes, illustrating the Parable of the Lost Piece

Cream earthenware, press-moulded, and decorated with coloured lead-glazes; pale bluish-green, green, yellow, and three shades of brown. The woman stands on a mound base with rocks on its top. She has her right foot raised on one of the rocks. Her head is turned slightly to her left and she holds out her left arm, to display the lost coin in her hand. In her right hand she holds the handle of a broom, the head of which rests on the mound beside her right foot. Her hair is dressed in an elaborate style with curls at the front, and three strands hanging down over her shoulders. She wears a low-necked, loosely-fitting brown dress, over a white skirt with a yellow bow at the front, and has sandals on her feet.

Notes

History note: John Henry Taylor collection; sold Sotheby's, 14th November 1930, Catalogue of the Valuable Collections of English Pottery & Porcelain, Glass, Objects of Vertu and Furniture, the Property of the late John Henry Taylor, Esq., Newstead, Birstall, Leicestershire, lot 596

Legal notes

Purchased with the Glaisher Fund

Measurements and weight

Height: 21 cm
9.2

At the moment, this record does not display units or type of measurements. We will rectify this as soon as possible.

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Bought (1930-11-14) by Sotheby's

Dating

18th Century, Late
Circa 1783 - Circa 1795

Note

The figure illustrates the Parable of the Lost Piece in the Gospel of St Luke, chapter 15 verses 8-10.

People, subjects and objects depicted

Components of the work

Decoration composed of lead-glaze ( clear with bluish tint, and coloured green, yellow, shades of brown,) metallic oxides ( to colour glazes)
Base Depth 7 cm Width 6.8 cm

Materials used in production

cream Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Press-moulding : Cream earthenware, press-moulded in parts, assembled, and decorated with lead glazes coloured faintly blue, green, yellow, and three shades of brown
Lead-glazing

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.42-1930
Primary reference Number: 75031
Glaisher Addition number: GL.Add.11-1930

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Tuesday 30 April 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 (2025) "The Lost Piece" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/75031 Accessed: 2025-12-06 00:58:32

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/75031 |title=The Lost Piece |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-06 00:58:32|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-75031

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<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa8/C_42_1930_281_29.jpg"
        alt="The Lost Piece"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Lost Piece</figcaption>
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