Matthew Prior (1644 – 1721)
Enoch Wood (Burslem 1759 - Burslem 1840)
Category
Ceramics
Date
circa 1790 - circa 1820
Materials
Pearlware
Measurements
242 x 135 x 92 mm
Place of origin
Burslem
Order this imageCollection
Wimpole, Cambridgeshire
NT 205044
Summary
Bust, pearlware, depicting Matthew Prior, standing on a socle with curved front edge and convex sides, he looks to his proper left, wearing a wrapped cloth cap, with loose shirt open at the neck, sash draped over his left shoulder, Enoch Wood, Staffordshire, 1785-1800; the base painted in brown, blue and black in imitation of marble, the cap sponged with red and yellow glazes, his coat puce and sash pink, the face coloured naturalistically.
Full description
Matthew Prior (1664-1721) was a poet, Tory politician and diplomat who held important positions between 1690 and 1715. He was arrested in 1715 for his part in a corruption and treason scandal. Many important Tories, who sympathised with him, sponsored a hugely profitable edition of his poems. The cap or turban he is wearing would be worn at home in place of a wig – Prior was most often depicted wearing it in portraits. Prior died at Wimpole and the object is modelled after the bust by Antoine Coysevox (1640-1720), created around 1700 for the monument dedicated to him in Westminster Abbey’s Poets’ Corner. It was copied first by the sculptor John Cheere and then John Turner of Lane End, Staffordshire. There are versions of the model attributed to Enoch Wood at the Victoria and Albert Museum (65-1874, CIRC.255-1955). It was also made in stoneware, as well as in porcelain at Derby and black basalt by Wedgwood & Bentley. A model of the bust in black plaster is in the V&A Wedgwood collection (WE.385-2014).
Provenance
Part of the Bambridge Collection. The hall and contents were bequeathed to the National Trust in 1976 by Mrs Elsie Bambridge (1896-1976)
Marks and inscriptions
Back of base: PRIOR Underside of base: [auction catalogue entry adhered to underside]
Makers and roles
Enoch Wood (Burslem 1759 - Burslem 1840), manufacturer