It takes more than a village to delve into early figures. It takes the whole world, and, thanks to the Internet, that is now possible. A gentleman in Portugal emailed me this week and filled me in on this figure of the Madonna below. This example is in the Willett Collection, Brighton and Hove Museums.
N.S. DOBOM DESPACHO. What does that title mean? I am only smart enough to know that the wording is not Latin. I suspected it was Portuguese, but I didn't know how to translate it. None of my Catholic friends was helpful, but at last, we have the answer! The title should read N.S. Do Bom Despacho. It translates as Our Lady of Good Delivery. the N.S. standing for "Nossa Senhora."
Now here is the really interesting part. There is a hole atop the figure's head. I always assumed this was intended to hold a metal halo. Not so. A metal crown would have fitted into it. The story behind the crown is particular to Portugal. In 1646, after his coronation Portugal’s new king, King John IV (Dom João IV) gave his crown to the madonna, saying she was the true queen of Portugal. Thereafter, Portugal’s sovereigns had acclamations instead of coronations, and they no longer wore crowns. BTW, Portugal’s monarchy ended in 1910.
But the story does not end there. The collector in Portugal went on to tell me that his figure has baby Jesus holding a small blue ball in his hands. This is a globe, signifying the universe. Well, there simply isn't a ball in the figure above. Possibly there is some damage, but probably there never was a ball. But here is
a close-up of the unpainted figure in the Potteries Museum....and baby Jesus, although now headless, does indeed clutch a globe.
Now here is the really interesting part. There is a hole atop the figure's head. I always assumed this was intended to hold a metal halo. Not so. A metal crown would have fitted into it. The story behind the crown is particular to Portugal. In 1646, after his coronation Portugal’s new king, King John IV (Dom João IV) gave his crown to the madonna, saying she was the true queen of Portugal. Thereafter, Portugal’s sovereigns had acclamations instead of coronations, and they no longer wore crowns. BTW, Portugal’s monarchy ended in 1910.
But the story does not end there. The collector in Portugal went on to tell me that his figure has baby Jesus holding a small blue ball in his hands. This is a globe, signifying the universe. Well, there simply isn't a ball in the figure above. Possibly there is some damage, but probably there never was a ball. But here is
a close-up of the unpainted figure in the Potteries Museum....and baby Jesus, although now headless, does indeed clutch a globe.
This figure was excavated from the Burslem Old Town Hall site associated with Enoch Wood, and it is impressed "28" beneath. Figures in that cache date from the 1820-1830 era, so that helps us date our madonna with relative accuracy.
While we are looking at this figure, one other point needs to be made. A collector contacted me about this very figure, noting that the faces of the madonna and child are very square. I have pointed out in the past that John Dale's figures have obviously square faces, and he wondered if John Dale made this madonna too. No, no, no. Yes, nearly all John Dale figures have squarish faces....scroll down to the blog posting on the Sacrifice at Lystra to see it again and again. But John Dale did not have the monopoly on square faces. Other potters also sometimes made figures with square faces. When everything else adds up to confirm a Dale attribution, a square face is simply the cherry on the top. Alone, it means nothing,
You may recall a blog posting that included a very rare mermaid figure a year or two ago. Here she is again.
You may recall a blog posting that included a very rare mermaid figure a year or two ago. Here she is again.
Now, thanks to Google books that has digitized so much ancient material, I was able to link this figure to the past, thereby dating it with some precision.
In 1822, there was still widespread belief in mermaids. After all, credible sources reported sightings, so why not believe? In that year, London was excited when a mermaid went on display. This grotesque shriveled creature was almost three feet long and it had been constructed from a monkey's upper body attached to a big fish tail. An American whaler captain, duped into believing he had found a rare and valuable treasure, had sold his ship for $6,000 to fund his purchase. When it went on show in London, naturalists quickly deduced that was "a composition; a most ingenious one, we grant, but still nothing beyond the admirably put together members of various animals.” Nonetheless, each day hundreds of people paid to see this disgusting object. I believe that Staffordshire mermaids date from this period. Perhaps the quick exposure of the hoax ended the manufacture of earthenware mermaids, because only three are known.
Again, thanks to the Internet, I learned that the mermaid of 1822 resurfaced in America in 1842. The great American showman P.T Barnum, then at the start of his career, acquired this famous fake and presented it cloaked in scientific knowledge as “The Feejee Mermaid.” The publicity stunt stirred much debate and controversy about the existence of the legendary mermaid.
The Internet has not yet revealed why the Staffordshire mermaid has wings. Do you know????
PS: The mermaid has a square face, but there is no basis for attributing her to John Dale!
In 1822, there was still widespread belief in mermaids. After all, credible sources reported sightings, so why not believe? In that year, London was excited when a mermaid went on display. This grotesque shriveled creature was almost three feet long and it had been constructed from a monkey's upper body attached to a big fish tail. An American whaler captain, duped into believing he had found a rare and valuable treasure, had sold his ship for $6,000 to fund his purchase. When it went on show in London, naturalists quickly deduced that was "a composition; a most ingenious one, we grant, but still nothing beyond the admirably put together members of various animals.” Nonetheless, each day hundreds of people paid to see this disgusting object. I believe that Staffordshire mermaids date from this period. Perhaps the quick exposure of the hoax ended the manufacture of earthenware mermaids, because only three are known.
Again, thanks to the Internet, I learned that the mermaid of 1822 resurfaced in America in 1842. The great American showman P.T Barnum, then at the start of his career, acquired this famous fake and presented it cloaked in scientific knowledge as “The Feejee Mermaid.” The publicity stunt stirred much debate and controversy about the existence of the legendary mermaid.
The Internet has not yet revealed why the Staffordshire mermaid has wings. Do you know????
PS: The mermaid has a square face, but there is no basis for attributing her to John Dale!
