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The Royal Arms
Production:
John Walton
Walton, John
Earthenware spill vase. moulded and modelled, lead glazed and painted with polychrome enamels.
Animal figure group representing the Royal Arms. In the centre is a spill vase formed from a grey-green column surmounted by a red and gold crown. On the front of the column is the Royal shield, inscribed ‘HOMI [sic] . SOIT . QUI . MAL . Y. PENSE’, above a rose and thistle. It is supported by the lion and the unicorn, each on its hind legs and standing on a scrolling ribbon inscribed ‘DIEU ET MON DROIT’. The inscriptions are incised and coloured black. The group is brightly coloured with enamels over a blue-tinged glaze and stands on a green kidney-shaped cushion. A shallow rectangular base is coloured to imitate marble. The underside is recessed and glazed. On the back, ‘WALTON’ is impressed on a scroll.
History note: Captain Reynolds Collection, London, sold to Messrs Gill and Reigate. Bought by Mr Stoner, London, from whom purchased in 1910 by Dr J.W.L. Glaisher, Trinity College, Cambridge. Dr Glaisher paid £125 for this and fourteen other pieces, as part of a purchase of 35 figures and figure groups.
Dr J.W.L.Glaisher Bequest, 1928
Height: 15.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Early#
1820
-
1830
Earthenware figure groups were popular from around 1810, although the earliest examples date from nearly a century earlier. A cheaper alternative to porcelain figures, they were often produced by small potteries; very few are marked. These early figure groups are often complex, including modelled and moulded parts and applied decoration and the backs, though flat, are decorated. But as demand increased, processes were streamlined to allow mass production and by c.1835 the earlier, relatively costly, methods had largely given way to three-part press-moulding.
‘The Royal Arms’ was probably made to celebrate the accession of either George IV (1820) or William IV (1830). John Walton (1780-c.1835) is listed in an 1818 commercial directory as a colour maker and earthenware figure manufacturer; the business was taken over by his son-in-law George Hood, during the 1830s. His figures are notable for their rich colours, they are often set against bocage (stylised leafy trees) and many of his subjects are taken from porcelain originals; the rectangular ‘marble’ base used here is also typical of his work.
Decoration
composed of
enamels
lead-glaze
Parts
Moulded : Earthenware, moulded and modelled, lead glazed and painted with enamels.
Inscription present: set within a scroll
Accession number: C.949-1928
Primary reference Number: 76430
Old object number: 3214
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 Royal Arms" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76430 Accessed: 2024-04-19 00:00:44
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76430
|title=The Royal Arms
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-04-19 00:00:44|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-76430
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_949_1928_281_29.jpg"
alt="The Royal Arms"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Royal Arms</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
Accession Number: HEN.M.258-1933
Accession Number: C.588-1961
Accession Number: CM.162-2002
Accession Number: CM.4.54-1922
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