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Girl pumping water
Production: Unidentified factory
Earthenware figure, moulded and modelled, lead glazed and painted with polychrome enamels.
Earthenware figure of a girl working a pump. She stands to the right, holding the handle in her right hand, and the water flows into a bucket in front of the pump. She wears a mob cap, a red scarf with yellow spots, a pale blue apron tucked up and a flowered dress over a skirt with wavy red, blue spot and yellow stripes; her shoes are black with yellow rosettes. She holds a ladle (?) in her raised left hand. The pump is painted dark blue, with a stiff brush to suggest iron. The back is fully shaped and decorated. The base is a rectangular plinth painted with pale blue and red curved lines, to imitate marble. The underside is recessed and glazed with an off-centre vent hole.
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, FRS, 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
Depth: 7.6 cm
Height: 15.8 cm
Width: 10.2 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1928-12-07) by Glaisher, J. W. L., Dr
19th Century, Early#
Circa
1810
CE
-
Circa
1820
CE
Pearlware figures decorated with enamels were in production by 1780. They were generally made at smaller potteries and are rarely marked. 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. From the early 19th Century, scenes from everyday life and topical events were also common. These early figures are moulded, perhaps with moulded or modelled parts added, the bases often formed separately. After around 1810-1820, figures are often more vibrantly coloured and by c.1835 earlier methods had largely given way to three-part press-moulding, enabling cheaper production of figures for a growing market.
This figure perhaps stands for ‘water’, as part of a series representing the elements. The rectangular base, together with the number of modelled parts and detailed painting in muted colours, suggests an early 19th century date.
Decoration
Parts
Accession number: C.950-1928
Primary reference Number: 76432
Old object number: 3212
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) "Girl pumping water" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76432 Accessed: 2024-11-02 14:28:00
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/76432
|title=Girl pumping water
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2024-11-02 14:28:00|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-76432
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_950_1928_281_29.jpg"
alt="Girl pumping water"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Girl pumping water</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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