Harvard Art Museums > 1943.1201: Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) (Wedgwood)(Modelled by Joachim Smith) , 1943.1201,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Apr 23, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/229939. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text Renowned potter Josiah Wedgwood was not only a master artisan, but a transformative innovator in 18th-century craft, production, and science. Born into a family of potters, Wedgwood developed his own new clay bodies, such as the well-known pastel-colored jasperware above and the black basalt in the adjacent case. One of the medallions seen here is displayed to feature its back, which is inscribed with notes recording the process used to achieve the specific color of the jasperware body. Many of the jasperware works seen here are from Wedgwood’s “Illustrious Moderns” series, which modeled political and other famous figures of the day in the form of ancient cameos so that one could collect and display their likenesses in their homes. Harnessing the interest in the ancient world during the second half of the 18th century, Wedgwood made and named works that would appeal to connoisseurs of antiquities. [1943.1239, 1943.1195, 1943.1201, 1943.1191, 1943.1182] Identification and Creation Object Number 1943.1201 People Wedgwood, British (founded 1759 ) Modelled by Joachim Smith, British Title Sir William Hamilton (1730-1803) Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture Date c. 1785 Places Creation Place: Europe, United Kingdom, England, Etruria Culture British Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/229939 Location Location Level 2, Room 2340, European and American Art, 17th–19th century, The Silver Cabinet: Art and Ritual, 1600–1850 View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium White jasperware body with rose glaze and figure in white relief Technique Jasperware Dimensions 10.4 x 8.2 x 1.5 cm (4 1/8 x 3 1/4 x 9/16 in.) Inscriptions and Marks inscription: below bust, impressed: S. W. HAMILTON manufacturer's mark: reverse, impressed: WEDGWOOD gallery label: back of frame, paper and black ink, handwritten: [printed:] F. RATHBONE, / South Kensington / LONDON S. W. / [handwritten:] Sir Wm Hamilton / 1730-1803, / 1789 period / W. E. Darwin Coll'n Provenance Recorded Ownership History Possibly by descent [1]; to William Erasmus Darwin, partial exchange; [2] to [Frederick Rathbone, London, 1912], sold; to Grenville Lindall Winthrop, New York, 1912, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943 Notes [1] Rathbone claims the medallion was descended through the Darwin (and suggests possibly the Wedgwood) family in correspondence dated October 15, 1912 [2] Per Rathbone, Darwin exchanged the medallion as partial payment for a vase Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop Accession Year 1943 Object Number 1943.1201 Division European and American Art Contact am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu Permissions THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS. The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Descriptions Description Two firing holes on verso Publication History Jean Gorely, "The Winthrop Collection", Old Wedgwood, Wellesley Press, Inc. (Wellesley, MA, 1943), no. 10, pp. 132-139, p. 135 Old Wedgwood from the Bequest of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1944), no. 52, p. 26 Jean Gorely, "Pedigreed Wedgwood", The Magazine Antiques (January 1945), pp. 29-31, p. 29 Louise Todd Ambler, Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), pp. 128-129, no. 59, ill. p. 128 Casey Monahan, "'If I offer you too much you have the remedy by declining it!:' Frederick Rathbone and the Grenville Lindall Winthrop Collection of Wedgwood at the Harvard Art Museums", Proceedings of the Sixty-Fourth Annual Wedgwood International Seminar, Birmingham Museum of Art (Birmingham, 2019), pp. 33-43, pp. 39-40 Exhibition History Old Wedgwood from the Bequest of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/04/1944 - 09/03/1944 Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/17/1975 - 09/22/1975 32Q: 2340 Cabinet Gallery, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 07/10/2023 - 01/01/2050 Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
