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Britannia with a Lion
Modeller:
Wood, Enoch
(Doubtful)
Production:
Wood & Caldwell
Earthenware figure group, moulded with modelled additions, lead glazed and painted with enamels.
White earthenware figure of Britannia, seated, with her right hand raised to hold a metal trident (now missing). She wears a green robe with a red cloak over a light purple dress. Over her chest is a breast-plate and on her head a feathered helmet, both stippled grey to suggest metal. With her left hand she supports a grey ‘metal’ shield with the Union Jack in relief. A yellow brown lion crouches to her right. It has a modelled mane and eyes, nose, whiskers and claws picked out in black; its rear is concealed beneath Britannia’s robe. The whole group is supported on a rocky mound with flowers and ‘parsley’ grass applied in relief. The underside is slightly recessed and flat, with a large central vent hole, and glazed.
History note: A.G.Smith, 193 Wardour Street, London from whom bought for £8 on 15 February 1905, by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Dr J. W. L. Glaisher Bequest
Depth: 15.2 cm
Height: 24.2 cm
Width: 17.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Early#
George III
Circa
1810
-
Circa
1818
Enoch Wood (1759-1840) was the son of Aaron Wood, an accomplished modeller. Enoch learned drawing and anatomy before working for Wedgwood and then an apprenticeship with Humphrey Palmer of Hanley Green. From 1790 he was associated with James Caldwell (1759-1838), a lawyer in Newcastle-under-Lyme, and from 1793-1818 was in partnership with him. In 1793 Wood began production in a newly-built factory at Fountain Place in Burslem.
Pearlware figure groups were popular from around 1810. They were produced by many small potteries and very few are marked. Earlier examples, like this, generally have both modelled and moulded parts, applied decoration and slightly flattened, decorated backs. But by c.1835 three-part press-moulding had largely taken over, enabling faster and cheaper production for a growing market.
The figure of Britannia has symbolised Britain since Roman times; the lion at her side represents England. In the early 19th century, Britain was at war with France until Wellington’s victory at Waterloo in 1815 and patriotism was an important theme for engravings, which may have been a source for this figure. Other examples from the same mould are found decorated with silver lustre, a new material at this time.
Decoration
composed of
enamels
lead-glaze
Parts
Accession number: C.910-1928
Primary reference Number: 76344
Old object number: 2330
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) "Britannia with a Lion" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76344 Accessed: 2024-11-02 14:39:16
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76344
|title=Britannia with a Lion
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 14:39:16|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-76344
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/aa2/C_910_1928_281_29.jpg"
alt="Britannia with a Lion"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Britannia with a Lion</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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