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Cat: C.788-1928

An image of Animal figure

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Object information

Current Location: In storage

Titles

Cat

Maker(s)

Factory: Unidentified Staffordshire Pottery

Entities

Categories

Description

Agate stoneware press-moulded, coloured in places with slips and salt-glazed.

Agate stoneware made from cream, grey and brownish-black appearing clays, press-moulded, decorated with brown and blue-stained slips and salt-glazed. There is no base and the figure is hollow. The sitting cat has its head turned at a right-angle to its body. Cream-coloured clay is used for the face of the animal. There are four patches of blue-stained slip on the front of the cat and one inside each ear. The eyes of the cat are marked with brown slip.

Notes

History note: Provenance uncertain before Mr A.S. Perry, Exhibition Road, London, who sold for £17.10 on 8 May 1928 to Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge

Legal notes

Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest.

Measurements and weight

Height: 9.6 cm
Width: 7.9 cm

Acquisition and important dates

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

Dating

18th Century, third quarter#
George II
George III
Production date: circa AD 1760

Note

Cats were the most common animal figure to be produced in salt-glazed stoneware with examples made from agate-ware being particularly common. There are numerous examples of cats that are comparable to this one with agate bodies, white faces and splashes of blue colour in their ears and over their fronts. Such cats were traditionally dated to around 1740 but are now dated closer to 1760.

Components of the work

Body composed of slip ( blue-stained, applied in spots to body and ears) agate stoneware
Eyes composed of slip ( brown, applied to eyes)
Face composed of white stoneware

Materials used in production

Salt-glaze

Techniques used in production

Press-moulding : Cream, grey and brownish-black clays have been wedged together to create an agate-effect body which has been press-moulded in two halves, along with a piece of plain cream clay for the face of the cat; splashes of brown slip and blue-stained slip have been applied to parts of the cat and the figure has been salt-glazed, leaving it with the pitted ‘orange peel’ surface texture typical of salt-glazed wares
Slip painting
Salt-glazing

References and bibliographic entries

Identification numbers

Accession number: C.788-1928
Primary reference Number: 76056
Old catalogue number: 5026
Stable URI

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 July 2020 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) "Cat" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76056 Accessed: 2024-03-29 09:14:21

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/76056 |title=Cat |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-03-29 09:14:21|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-76056

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<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa2/C_788_1928_281_29.jpg"
        alt="Cat"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Cat</figcaption>
    </figure>
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