Not currently on display at the V&A

Figure

ca. 1780-1800 (made)
Place of origin

Figure of Apollo or Orpheus, earthenware painted in brown, yellow and various shades of green glaze. Standing male figure draped in a green cloak, the hair bound with a wreath. The figure rests on his right leg, the left leg drawn up to support the lyre on which he is playing. The plinth modelled to represent rocks and plants.


Object details

Category
Object type
Materials and techniques
earthenware, painted in coloured glazes
Brief description
Figure of Apollo, earthenware, probably made in Staffordshire, ca. 1780-1800
Physical description
Figure of Apollo or Orpheus, earthenware painted in brown, yellow and various shades of green glaze. Standing male figure draped in a green cloak, the hair bound with a wreath. The figure rests on his right leg, the left leg drawn up to support the lyre on which he is playing. The plinth modelled to represent rocks and plants.
Dimensions
  • Height: 22.8cm
  • Width: 9.8cm
converted from register
Production typeMass produced
Marks and inscriptions
  • rebus of symbol of stand of trees (to right of plinth)
  • Transliteration
    .
Object history
Note from register: 'This figure was found stored in the old crypt about 1912. In 1921 it was decided to be the figure received on approval for purchase (but no price stated) from Mrs Georgie B(?)erington, of 22 Quai Spinola, Bruges, on 24 Feb.1873 (See R.P.1765/73). It was refused by Sir Digby Wyatt (Art Referee) as modern German (?) having "no pretensions to antiquity" and "scarcely any value as a work of art". Sir Henry Cole (Director) gave instructions to Mr George Wallis (Keeper of Art Museum) for the return of the figure, but those instructions were evidently overlooked. The Director (Sir Cecil Smith) on 7 July 1921 decided that the figure may now be registered with a caveat that no reference to the circumstances of acquisition to appear on the label.'
Subjects depicted
Associated object
CIRC.460-1967 (Version)
Bibliographic reference
Halfpenny, Pat, English Earthenware Figures: 1740-1840 (Antique Collectors' Club: 1995), p. 64 & 92.
Collection
Accession number
C.538-1921

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Record createdApril 14, 2009
Record URL
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