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Comedy
Production: Unidentified factory
Lead-glazed earthenware figure of Comedy painted with polychrome enamels.
Lead-glazed earthenware, press-moulded and painted in blue, two shades of green, yellow, pale flesh pink, dark puce, red, and black enamels. A woman representing Comedy stands on an oval base beside a pedestal and holds a circular shield in her left hand and a mirror in her right. She wears a long, flowing, short-sleeved, green gown and a dark puce pink cloak draped over her left shoulder. The shield is yellow and decorated with a satyr 'smask, the pedestal is red-brown. The base is a pointed oval mound, moulded in relief with flowers and painted in green, blue and red. The back of the figure is flattened, but fully detailed and painted. The underside is recessed and glazed, with a central ventilation hole.
History note: An unidentified owner in Wisbech who sold them to Mr Wordingham of Cambridge; bought with a pair (C.936B-1928) from Mr Wordingham on 8 August 1925, for £4, by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Dr J.W.L.Glaisher Bequest, 1928
Height: 14.6 cm
Width: 10.5 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Early
Circa
1810
-
Circa
1820
Pearlware figures decorated with enamels were in production by 1780, though the bright coloured enamels on these figures indicates an early 19th Century date. They were generally made at smaller potteries and are rarely marked. A cheaper alternative to porcelain figures, they drew on a variety of sources, including sculpture and porcelain figures. Classical, biblical, mythological and literary subjects were popular, as were animals and representations of rural life, seasons and trades. Here the bodies are simple 3-part moulds, with a few hand-modelled parts applied.
This is one of a pair of female figures representing Comedy and Tragedy, personifications which date from ancient Greece. The Fitzwilliam collection holds three such earthenware figures, a pair (C.936A-1928 and C.936B-1928) and Tragedy (C.937-1928). Similarities in moulding and colours suggest that these may have come from the same maker.
Decoration
composed of
enamels
lead-glaze
Parts
Moulding : Earthenware, moulded with applied modelled parts, lead glazed and painted with enamels.
Accession number: C.936A-1928
Primary reference Number: 76409
Old object number: 4573
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 (2025) "Comedy" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76409 Accessed: 2025-04-12 04:16:48
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76409
|title=Comedy
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-04-12 04:16:48|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-76409
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_936A_1928_281_29.jpg"
alt="Comedy"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Comedy</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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