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Shepherdess: C.44-1930

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Current Location: In storage

Titles

Shepherdess

Maker(s)

Potter: Wood, Ralph, II (Probably)
Potter: Wood, Ralph, III (Possibly)

Entities

Categories

Description

Earthenware figure of a Shepherdess decorated with coloured lead-glazes

Cream earthenware, press-moulded in parts, assembled, and decorated with translucent blue-tinted , green, yellow, greenish-brown, and manganese-brown lead-glazes. The underside is open and the figure is hollow. On the inside of the base behind the lamb there is a ventilation hole. The shepherdess stands on a roughly circular base with Rococo style scrolled and frilled sides and grassy top. She faces to the front, holding a rose to her breast with her left hand and holding out her right hand, originally holding a metal crook, now missing. She has manganese-brown hair and eyes, and wears a bluish-white shallow-brimmed hat perched on the left side of her head, a yellow stomacher, a greenish-brown bodice and skirt with a green over-skirt looped up over it, a bluish-white petticoat, and brown shoes. A large lamb reclines on the ground on the viewer's left of the base. One of a pair with a Shepherd, C.43-1930.

Notes

History note: John Henry Taylor (1849-1930); sold Sotheby's, 14 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 601

Legal notes

Purchased with the Glaisher Fund

Measurements and weight

Height: 22.1 cm
Width: 9.2 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

18th Century, Late
Circa 1782 CE - Circa 1800 CE

Note

Probably made by Ralph Wood II, or possibly his son, Ralph Wood III. Some figures of this type may have been made by Ralph II's brother John Wood (d. 1797) at his factory at Brownhills.

Components of the work

Decoration composed of lead-glaze ( translucent blue-tinted, green, yellow, greenish-brown, manganese-brown)
Base Width 8 cm

Materials used in production

cream Earthenware

Techniques used in production

Press-moulding : Cream earthenware, press-moulded in parts, assembled and decorated with translucent blue-tinted, green, yellow, greenish-brown, manganese-brown lead-glazes

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.44-1930
Primary reference Number: 75106
Glaisher Addition number: Gl.Add.3-1930

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) "Shepherdess" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/75106 Accessed: 2025-12-09 08:10:39

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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/75106 |title=Shepherdess |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-09 08:10:39|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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