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Demosthenes (384-322 BC)
Wood, Enoch
(Potter)
After
Cheere, John
(Sculptor)
Earthenware with blue-tinted lead-glaze, painted in enamels
Earthenware, moulded, covered with blue-tinted lead-glaze, andpainted in blue, turquoise, pale yellow, flesh pink, pale pink, red, brown, grey, and black enamels. The shallow, straight-sided rectangular base is hollow underneath, and is painted in blue, pale red, brown, grey and black to resemble marble. Demosthenes stands on his left leg with his right advanced. He leans forward, extending his right arm and holding up his cloak up to his chest with his left hand. He has black hair and beard, and wears a white tunic and a long turquoise cloak with a pink lining and yellow fringe. On the viewer's right there is a tall pedestal veined in black to resemble marble, and decorated on the front in relief with a green swag above an arched panel enclosing a scene showing a small figure of Demosthenes standing on a rocky promontory addressing the waves, with two sailing ships in the distance, and overhead, a larger figure of Hermes/Mercury holding a caduceus with a cloud below him.
History note: Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 12 December 1918, Porcelain, decorative furniture and Eastern rugs, lot 37; purchased for 37 guineas by Mr Stoner who sold it on the same day for £38 to Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge
Dr J.W.L. Glaisher Bequest
Height: 48.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed
(1928-12-07)
by
Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
Late 18th century
George III
Circa
1790
CE
-
1810
CE
The figure in relief on the pestal is Hermes/Mercury, the messenger of the gods, who was associated with eloquence and reasoning, and therefore alludes to Demosthenes' oratorial skill.
When purchased by Dr Glaisher the figure was identified as St Paul preaching at Athens, and has also been described as 'Eloquence', but the model was after a plaster of Demosthenes by John Cheere (1709-87) of which there is an example 20 in high at Burton Constable, Yorkshire, where there is also a preliminary drawing by Cheere, and a life-size figure which do not have the pedestal on the right of the figure (see Documentation, Hall, 1970). If not from Cheere, Wood might have obtained a plaster model from Charles Harris of the Strand (d. c. 1795) whose undated 'Catalogue of Statues, Bass Reliefs, Bustos, & c.' (V. & A., National Art Library 1.37.Y) includes a figure of Demosthenes of the same size for 2 guineas, and figures of Prudence and Fortitude which might have been the modesl for Wood's figures of those subjects. A somewhat similar figure is shown representing 'Education' in George Bickham's 'The Universal Penman', London, 1743.
Decoration composed of enamels ( blue, turquoise, pale yellow, flesh pink, pale pink, red, brown, grey, and black)
tinted slight blue Lead-glaze Earthenware
Accession number: C.900-1928
Primary reference Number: 76326
Old object number: 4727
Stable URI
Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Applied Arts
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The Fitzwilliam Museum (2022)
"Demosthenes (384-322 BC)"
Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76326 Accessed: 2022-05-20 11:41:56
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