Popery
Category
Ceramics
Date
1851
Materials
Earthenware
Measurements
237 mm (H)
Place of origin
Staffordshire
Order this imageCollection
Attingham Park, Shropshire
NT 341443
Summary
Figure, 'Popery', lead-glazed earthenware painted with enamel colours, made in Ceramic, Staffordshire, England, about 1851. A full-length Staffordshire figure of a priest standing, bare-headed, in bands, soutane, and cloak. His right hand on a document.
Full description
Earthenware figures were made in Staffordshire from the 18th century and were a cheaper alternative to European and English porcelains. Staffordshire figures became a form of visual literacy depicting key personalities and events of the day from politics, and religion to royalty, sport, literature and entertainment. This figure represents an anti Catholic sentiment amongst some parts of society in Britain. The full-length figure represents Popery (the doctrines, practices, and ceremonies associated with the Pope) in the form of a priest standing, bare-headed, in bands, soutane, and cloak. Right hand on a document, inscribed 'Either we must root out the Bible or the Bible will root us out. The translators of the English Bible are to be abhorred to the depths of hell. It would be better to be without God's law than without the Pope. - Dr Troy, Archbishop of Dublin. 1816'. At the back is a flag inscribed ' He that committeth his conscience to the keeping of another is no longer a free man. Freedom of conscience and freedom of thought are essential to the freedom of a nation. Therefore a nation of Catholics is a nation of Slaves'. Linked to the anti-popery agitation of 1851 when Pius IX appointed Bishops with English territorial titles.
Provenance
part of collection built up by Thomas Balston (d.1967). He wrote about the collection in Staffordshire Portrait Figures of the Victorian Age, 1958.
Marks and inscriptions
He that committeth his conscience to the keeping of another is no longer a free man. Freedom of conscience and freedom of thought are essential to the freedom of a nation. Therefore a nation of Catholics is a nation of Slaves. (upper and lower case transfer)