Plate
ca. 1851 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
The Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, popularly known as the Great Exhibition, was held in London from 1 May to 11 October, 1851. It was an imperial spectacle in which the manufactures and raw materials of more than thirty British colonies and dependencies were displayed to demonstrate the commercial and artistic wealth of Britain’s colonial possessions and to re-invigorate British design. Key to the success of the Exhibition was Joseph Paxton’s revolutionary glass building; the Crystal Palace.
The building and displays drew over six million visitors to the Exhibition and generated a booming trade in souvenirs and commemorative items. This transfer-printed plate was produced as an affordable souvenir. It pictures an ‘interior view of the Crystal Palace’. The ‘exotic’ visitors in national dress in the foreground promote a vision of the Exhibition as a place where people and goods from around the world could be united under the banner of the British Empire.
The building and displays drew over six million visitors to the Exhibition and generated a booming trade in souvenirs and commemorative items. This transfer-printed plate was produced as an affordable souvenir. It pictures an ‘interior view of the Crystal Palace’. The ‘exotic’ visitors in national dress in the foreground promote a vision of the Exhibition as a place where people and goods from around the world could be united under the banner of the British Empire.
Object details
| Categories | |
| Object type | |
| Materials and techniques | Porcelain, transfer-printed in underglaze colours |
| Brief description | Plate, souvenir of Great Exhibition, porcelain transfer-printed in underglaze colours, F & R Pratt & Co., Fenton, ca. 1851, England. |
| Physical description | Plate, porcelain, the centre transfer-printed in underglaze colours with an interior view of the sculpture court of the 1851 Exhibition Building with figures in national dress in the foreground, the top inscribed “INTERIOR VIEW OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE”. The scene is divided from the border of the plate by a narrow band of scrolled ornament. The border painted green with a gilt edge. |
| Dimensions |
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| Marks and inscriptions | "INTERIOR VIEW OF THE CRYSTAL PALACE" (Applied to top of plate) |
| Credit line | Given by Mrs Eric Hervey |
| Object history | From a group of Crystal Palace memorabilia which belonged to Gerald Smedley Hervey, MBE. |
| Production | Same design also used by F & R Pratt & Co. to decorate pot-lids |
| Subject depicted | |
| Place depicted | |
| Association | |
| Summary | The Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, popularly known as the Great Exhibition, was held in London from 1 May to 11 October, 1851. It was an imperial spectacle in which the manufactures and raw materials of more than thirty British colonies and dependencies were displayed to demonstrate the commercial and artistic wealth of Britain’s colonial possessions and to re-invigorate British design. Key to the success of the Exhibition was Joseph Paxton’s revolutionary glass building; the Crystal Palace. The building and displays drew over six million visitors to the Exhibition and generated a booming trade in souvenirs and commemorative items. This transfer-printed plate was produced as an affordable souvenir. It pictures an ‘interior view of the Crystal Palace’. The ‘exotic’ visitors in national dress in the foreground promote a vision of the Exhibition as a place where people and goods from around the world could be united under the banner of the British Empire. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | CIRC.793-1969 |
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| Record created | May 24, 2006 |
| Record URL |
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