Lydia Dwight Resurrected thumbnail 1
Lydia Dwight Resurrected thumbnail 2
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images
On display
Image of Gallery in South Kensington

Lydia Dwight Resurrected

Figure
1674 (made)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Object Type
One of the earliest experiments in European ceramic sculpture, this object was commissioned by the father of the dead child in order to capture her likeness and perpetuate her memory. It was personal and private, perhaps not intended for open display in the house

People
Lydia Dwight was six years old when she died on 3 March 1674 (1673 by the Old Calendar). Although the commissioning of such a piece of sculpture suggests no lack of grief on the part of the parents, as usual in an unsentimental age noted for its high infant mortality, the next daughter was also christened Lydia.

Materials & Making
John Dwight's first patent for salt-glazed stoneware, of 1672, did not list statues and figures among the types of product to be protected. They were, however, included in his second patent of 1684, when he had apparently stopped making them. Almost all his figures, like these two examples, were actually made in the 1670s. He is known to have shown a bust of Dr Willis and a figure to members of the Royal Society in 1674 and was clearly attempting to adapt his tough new material to the delicate art of modelling in clay, terracotta or wax at exactly the time his daughter Lydia died. The identity of the four different modellers involved in his experiments, assumed to be from Italy or the Low Countries, still remain a mystery. Dwight's failure to make commercial use of his stoneware figures has denied him the role of founder of the later tradition of English pottery and porcelain figures. But his attempts to link the stoneware material to art does have parallels with Josiah Wedgwood and Sir Henry Doulton in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Object details

Categories
Object type
TitleLydia Dwight Resurrected (popular title)
Materials and techniques
Stoneware, hand-modelled and salt-glazed
Brief description
White stoneware figure of a girl, Lydia Dwight, wearing a shroud, with a skull and flowers at her feet. English, ca.1674. Made at John Dwight's Fulham Pottery.
Physical description
Standing figure of a girl, Lydia Dwight, with clasped hands, wearing a shroud, with a skull and flowers at her feet.
Dimensions
  • Height: 28.7cm
  • Width: 10.5cm
Dimensions checked: measured; 15/12/1998 by TB Base length 9.3base width 7.8
Marks and inscriptions
The figure of the dead Lydia is incised in the clay 'Lydia Dwight dyed March 3 1673' (by the modern calendar, 1674)
Gallery label
British Galleries: Lydia Dwight was the daughter of John Dwight, founder of the Fulham pottery. She died aged six in 1674. The figure of Lydia dead shows her dressed in her burial clothes, clutching a posy of flowers. White was an appropriate mourning colour for a child. The figure of Lydia standing represents her resurrection. Belief in life after death was a great comfort to the living. Her burial shroud hangs loosely around her body, with symbols of life (flowers) and death (a skull) at her feet.(25/03/2003)
Object history
This figure of Lydia Dwight was made at the Fulham Pottery, which was run by her father John Dwight, shortly after her death, at the age of 6 years, in 1674 (1673 by the old calendar)
Production
This figure was made at Dwight's Fulham pottery using techniques patented by him.
1055-1871 is another figure of Lydia Dwight made at the Fulham Pottery after her death.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Object Type
One of the earliest experiments in European ceramic sculpture, this object was commissioned by the father of the dead child in order to capture her likeness and perpetuate her memory. It was personal and private, perhaps not intended for open display in the house

People
Lydia Dwight was six years old when she died on 3 March 1674 (1673 by the Old Calendar). Although the commissioning of such a piece of sculpture suggests no lack of grief on the part of the parents, as usual in an unsentimental age noted for its high infant mortality, the next daughter was also christened Lydia.

Materials & Making
John Dwight's first patent for salt-glazed stoneware, of 1672, did not list statues and figures among the types of product to be protected. They were, however, included in his second patent of 1684, when he had apparently stopped making them. Almost all his figures, like these two examples, were actually made in the 1670s. He is known to have shown a bust of Dr Willis and a figure to members of the Royal Society in 1674 and was clearly attempting to adapt his tough new material to the delicate art of modelling in clay, terracotta or wax at exactly the time his daughter Lydia died. The identity of the four different modellers involved in his experiments, assumed to be from Italy or the Low Countries, still remain a mystery. Dwight's failure to make commercial use of his stoneware figures has denied him the role of founder of the later tradition of English pottery and porcelain figures. But his attempts to link the stoneware material to art does have parallels with Josiah Wedgwood and Sir Henry Doulton in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Associated object
Bibliographic references
  • Mavis Bimson. John Dwight. In: English Ceramic Circle Transactions. London, 1961. Volume 5, Part 2, p.101, plate 112b.
  • Sturgis, Alexander. Presence: The Art of Portrait Sculpture. England: The Antique collectors club Ltd, 2012. pp. 97 and back page. ISBN 978-1-85149-685-3
Collection
Accession number
1054-1871

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Record createdJune 23, 1998
Record URL
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