These images are provided for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons License (BY-NC-ND). To license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who will discuss fees, terms and waivers.
Download this imageCreative commons explained - what it means, how you can use our's and other people's content.
The Widow of Zarapheth
Production:
Wood, Ralph II
Production:
Wood, Ralph III
(Perhaps)
Lead-glazed earthenware figures of the widow of Zarephath and her son, painted in polychrome enamels
White earthenware, moulded, covered with slightly blue tinted lead-glaze, and painted in blue, turquoise, yellow, green, flesh pink, dark salmon pink, lilac, brownish-red, brown, greyish-brown enamels. The figures are supported on a shallow straight-sided base decorated with a reddish-brown line, and the word 'Widow' . The closed underside has curved sides and a central ventilation hole. The widow sits on a rocky mound with a flowering tree behind her. She has her head turned to her right and holds a bundle of sticks in her right hand. She rests her left hand on top of a barrel beside which is a ewer inscribed 'Oil'. She wears a turquoise-lined veil over her head, a white dress decorated with floral sprigs and with lilac edgings round the neck and wrists, a yellow drape around her waist, a white cloak with a dark salmon pink lining, and sandals with brownish-red straps . He small son stands on her right holding a bunch of sticks in both hands. He is nude apart from a lilac drape. Both figures have greyish-brown hair, heavy brown eyebrows, rosy cheeks, and a red mouth. The mound is daubed with yellow, green turquoise and lilac.
History note: Private house sale at Wisbech; bought by Mr Roe, Cambridge, from whom purchased with its companion figure for £8 on 24 February 1907 by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, FRS, Trinity College, Cambridge
Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest
Height: 28.1 cm
Width: 13.5 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
18th Century, Late
George III
Circa
1790
-
1801
The story of the Widow of Zarephath is told in the Bible, Kings, I, 17, 8-16. After Elijah had been fed by ravens, he was instructed by God to go to Zarephath where a widow would feed him. When he arrived the widow was gathering sticks for a fire. Elijah asked first for some water to drink, and then for some bread. The widow told him that she didn't have any, and was just about to cook a handful of meal she had left in a barrel with a little oil for herself and her son. Elijah then asked her to make them into a little cake for him first, and told her that if she did this God had promised that the meal and oil would not be exhausted until the rain came to end the famine. The widow did as Elijah asked, and neither the meal nor oil ran out while he was staying with her.
This group can be attributed to Ralph Wood II because its companion, 'Elijah and the Ravens' is marked 'Ra. Wood/Burslem. However, both might have been made between his death in 1795 and the death of his son, Ralph Wood III, who died in 1801.
Decoration
composed of
enamel
( blue, turquoise, yellow, green, flesh pink, dark salmon pink, lilac, brownish-red, brown, greyish-brown)
Surface
composed of
lead-glaze
( slightly tinted blue)
Base
Depth 11.5 cm
Width 11.5 cm
off-white Earthenware
Moulding : White earthenware, press-moulded, covered with slightly blue tinted lead-glaze, and painted in blue, turquoise, yellow, green, flesh pink, dark salmon pink, lilac, brownish-red, brown, greyish-brown enamels
Inscription present: name of figure
Accession number: C.881A-1928
Primary reference Number: 76282
Old object number: 2605
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2024) "The Widow of Zarapheth" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76282 Accessed: 2024-11-02 18:35:05
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76282
|title=The Widow of Zarapheth
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 18:35:05|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-76282
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa8/C_881A_1928_281_29.jpg"
alt="The Widow of Zarapheth"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Widow of Zarapheth</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...
