Figure
after Poilly, Jean-Baptiste de
Category
Ceramics
Date
1791 - 1795
Materials
Pearlware
Measurements
217 x 334 x 124 mm
Place of origin
Burslem
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 205040
Summary
Figure, pearlware, reclining figure of Cleopatra, rectangular base, her proper right arm raised over her head, her right leg crossed over her left, she wears an draped garment, an asp is encircled around her left forearm, its head on her breast, probably Lakin & Poole, Burslem, Staffordshire, 1791-5; decorated in a subtly coloured enamels and coloured glazes, the base painted to give the effect of marble, the top of the base with green and brown glazes to replicate grass, her dress partly left in the white, with a long sash in pale yellow with stylised flowers and dots, her hair a red-brown colour.
Full description
This figure of Cleopatra and its pair, depicting the Roman general Mark Antony (NT 205041), are attributed to Lakin & Poole. Although the figures are not marked, the marbleised bases and subtle colours used for their decoration are typical of the factory. The figure of Cleopatra is after a Roman marble sculpture, ‘Sleeping Ariadne’, in the Capitoline Museum in Rome. Versions were reproduced in plaster, as well as an engraving by the artist John-Baptiste de Poilly, published in Andrea de Rossi's, 'Raccolta Di Statue Antiche E Moderne Data In Luce Sotto I Gloriosi Auspici Della Santita Di N.S. Papa Clemente XI' in 1704. The image was incorrectly described as Cleopatra by Rossi. Sources for the companion figure of Antony are not firmly established, though it might be after a depiction of Rinaldo, a Christian knight in the epic poem by Tarquato Tasso, ‘Jerusalem Delivered’ (1581), set during the First Crusade. The figure is similar to Anibale Carraci’s painting ‘Rinaldo and Armida' (Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte). and a comparable figure was by modelled by sculptor Paul-Louis Cyfflé and made in tin glazed earthenware at Lunéville, France. A marked example of Rinaldo and Armida by Lakin & Poole is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, so the subject was known to the factory. A more commonly found variant of the figures of Cleopatra and Anthony was produced with them reclining on grassy mounds, rather than marbleised bases. Examples are known to be marked by Neale & Co, another Staffordshire firm. Figures on a rectangular base were also made at the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, in black basalt and a yellow coloured glaze, as well as Staffordshire porcelain.
Provenance
Part of the Bambridge Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by Mrs Elsie Bambridge (1896-1976)
Makers and roles
after Poilly, Jean-Baptiste de, engraver (printmaker)
References
Poole 1986: Julia Poole, Plagiarism Personified? European Pottery and Porcelain Figures, exh.cat, venue: Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1986, pp. 65-66, plate 48 Renton, Fairclough and Conroy, 2022: Andrew Renton, Oliver Fairclough and Rachel Conroy, 'Flourish: A Golden Age for Ceramics in Wales', National Museum Wales Books, p. 23 Halfpenny, 1991; Pat Halfpenny, 1991, English Earthenware Figures 1740-1840, fig. 37