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Bust of an Old Woman
Probably
Unknown
(Maker)
Maiolica bust of an old woman, painted in polychrome.
Pale buff earthenware, tin-glazed on the exterior; underside unglazed. Painted in dark blue, green, yellow, orange, manganese-purple, and black. Modelled in the round; hollow underneath.
The old woman faces front, her head inclined to her right. She has a broad, smooth brow, a large nose, high cheek-bones, wide-set eyes and a slight double chin. Her mouth is set in a wide grimace showing the gaps in her teeth. She wears a close-fitting cap, half green, half yellow, with blue zig-zag stitching on the seams and two blue strings hanging down at the back. Her dress has a low neckline edged in yellow, above which is the top of her chemise, edged in blue and orange. The bodice is partly blue and partly green at the front, and partly manganese and partly brown with a black spiralling pattern at the back. Her right sleeve is purple and her left has a geometrical pattern in orange, yellow and black. She has a square jewel on a cord round her brow and a string of beads round her neck.
History note: Benjamin Fillon by 1878; Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 22 March 1882, Catalogue des objets d'art et de haute curiosité . . . composant la collection de feu Benjamin Fillon, lot 289, and pl. p. 112. Henry Oppenheimer; Christie's, 15 July 1936, Catalogue of the highly important collection of Italian majolika and bronzes, jewels, enamels, ivories, sculpture and works of art formed by the late Henry Oppenheimer Esq., FSA of 9 Kensington Palace Gardens, W 8., lot 46; Louis C.G. Clarke.
Given by L.C.G. Clarke
Height: 20.9 cm
Width: 24.0 cm
Relative size of this object is displayed using code inspired by Good Form and Spectacle's work on the British Museum's Waddeson Bequest website and their dimension drawer. They chose a tennis ball to represent a universally sized object, from which you could envisage the size of an object.
Method of acquisition: Given
(1955-03-03)
by
Clarke, Louis Colville Gray
Late 15th century
Early 16th Century
Renaissance
Circa
1490
CE
-
1510
CE
Decoration composed of high-temperature colours ( dark blue, green, yellow, orange, manganese-purple, and black) Exterior
Modeling (forming) : Pale buff earthenware, tin-glazed on the exterior; underside unglazed. Painted in dark blue, green, yellow, orange, manganese-purple, and black.
Inscription present: rectangular with cut corners
Inscription present: rectangular loan form for the 1930 Exhibition of Italian Art
Accession number: C.1-1955
Primary reference Number: 80702
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 (2022)
"Bust of an Old Woman"
Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/80702 Accessed: 2022-07-06 15:13:46
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{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/80702
|title=Bust of an Old Woman
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2022-07-06 15:13:46|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
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https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-80702
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<div class="text-center"> <figure class="figure"> <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa35/C_1_1955_1_201303_adn21_dc2.jpg" alt="Bust of an Old Woman" class="img-fluid" /> <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Bust of an Old Woman</figcaption> </figure> </div>
Accession Number: PD.17-1992
Accession Number: PD.72-2015
Accession Number: 3134
Accession Number: PD.145-1994
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