Title:
The Bride
Maker(s):
Copeland; factory
Monti, Raffaelle; sculptor; after; Italian sculptor 1818-81
Category(s):
porcelain; Parian (porcelain)
Name:
bust
Date:
1873
dated
School/Style:
Victorian
Period(s):
19th century; Victoria
Description(s):
Parian porcelain, slip cast bust of 'The Bride'.
Parian porcelain, slip cast bust of 'The Bride'. The circular socle is made separately and is held to the bust by a brass screw, nut, and washer. The bride faces front and looks downwards. She has a veil over her head which falls down over her face and breast at the front, and over her shoulders at the back. It is held in place by a wreath of orange-blossom flowers tied at centre back with a bow.
Production
Place(s):
England, Staffordshire, Stoke
Production
Place (legacy):
Stoke, factory, place
Staffordshire, factory, county
England, factory, country
English, factory, nationality
London, sculptor, place
England, sculptor, country
English, sculptor, nationality
Production
Note:
Raffaele Monti (1818-81) specialized in carving marbles with illusionistic veils. The Bride was derived from the head of a full-length marble of a kneeling Veiled Vestal of 1847, which was exhibited at the Great Exhibition in 1851, and was acquired by the Duke of Devonshire. The parian version was first issued as a 2 guinea prize to Ceramic and Crystal Palace Art-Union subscribers in 1861
Technique:
slip-casting; whole; in two parts, bust, and socle
Material(s):
Parian (porcelain); whole
brass (alloy); screw
Technique
Description:
Parian porcelain, slip cast.The circular socle is made separately and is held to the bust by a brass screw, nut, and washer.
Dimension(s):
height, whole, 38, cm
width, across shoulders, 23.3, cm
diameter, socle, 13.3, cm
Acquisition:
given; 1969-10-16; The Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Notes(s):
Crystal Palace Art Union was founded in 1858 by Thomas Battam jnr, who had formerly been director of Art Work for Copeland and Garrett. Unlike the other Art Unions it was a private company rather than a philanthropic scheme to promote art. Until 1864 it was based at Sydenham, in the Ceramic Court of the Crystal Palace. It was approved by the Board of Trade in 1858 but commenced its activities a year later. For a subscription of 1 guinea (or more), the subscribers could choose a piece of Parian from a list. The Bride, one of the most popular busts ever produced in Parian, was issued in 1861. In 1865 Battam died and the union changed its name to the Ceramic and Crystal Palace Art Union, and its offices moved from the Polytechnic Institute in Regent Street, to Castle Street, off Regent Street. Little is known of its activities after that time, although it appears to have continued until at least 1883.
Acquisition Credit:
Given by the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Museum
Inscription(s):
signature; on back of shoulders; incised in model; R. Monti' in an oval line/'1861; the sculptor of the original bust, Raffaelle Monti (1818-81)
mark; on back under shoulders; incised faintly into model and impressed; CERAMIC/AND/ CRYSTAL PALACE ART UNION' and below 'COPYRIGHT RESERVED/ COPELAND/o/ 73' impressed.; CERAMIC/AND/ CRYSTAL PALACE ART UNION' incised faintly, and 'COPYRIGHT RESERVED/ COPELAND/o/ 73' impressed.; name of commissioner of the bust and the factory and date of manufacture
Exhibition(s):
Plagiarism Personified? European Pottery and Porcelain Figures. 1986-07-15 - 1986-08-31
Organiser: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Venue: The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (Cambs.)
Notes: See Dcoumentation
Catalogue number: K6
Documentation:
, The Fitzwilliam Museum1970. Fitzwilliam. The Annual Reports of the Fitzwilliam Museum Syndicate and the Friends of the Fitzwilliam Cambridge for the Year ending 31 December 1969.Cambridge (Cambs.):
Publ. pl. V
, The Fitzwilliam Museum1982. Treasures of the Fitzwilliam Museum.Cambridge (Cambs.): Pevensey Pressp. 166
Publ. p. 166, illustrated in colour with brief text
Poole, Julia. 1986. Plagiarism Personified? European Pottery and Porcelain Figures.Cambridge (Cambs.): The Fitzwilliam Museump. 73
Publ. p. 73, K 6.
Sotheby's. 1985. English Enamels and British and Irish Ceramics.London: Sotheby's
Cf. Lot 284. Estimate £300-500.
Shinn, Charles. Shinn, Dorrie. 1971. The Illustrated Guide to Victorian Parian China.London: Barrie & Jenkinsp. 57,73
Ref. pp. 57 and 73, and see pl. 29, an example in the Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston
Sotheby's. 2002. European Ceramics.Olympia, London: p. 56
Cf. Lot 187. Estimate £1,200-1,800
Atterbury, Paul. The Parian Phenomenon, A Survey of Victorian Parian Porcelain Statuary and Busts.Shepton Beauchamp: Richard Dennisp. 38, 53, 262
Ref. For a reproduction of the illustration of the Veiled Vestal in the Art Journal in 1853, see p. 53, fig. 72.. For Monti, see p. 262. The Bride later had a companion titled The Mother, see p. 180, fig. 586, right. For a list of the Parian figures offered by the Ceramic and Crystal Palace Art Union, see p. 38.
Gunnis, Rupert. 1953. The Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660-1851.London: Odhams Press Ltdp. 262
Ref. p. 262 for biography of Monti
Sotheby's. 1985. British and Irish Ceramics.London: Sotheby's
Cf. Lot 259. Estimate £600-800.
Copeland, Robert. 2007. Parian, Copeland's Statuary Porcelain.Woodbridge: Antique Collectors' Clubp. 201-02
Ref. pp. 201-2, B11
Accession:
Object Number: C.7-1969
(Applied Arts)
(record id: 93981; input: 2003-07-25; modified: 2012-03-13)
Permanent
Identifier:
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