medallion
- Museum number
- 1853,1104.12
- Description
-
Medallion, jasper ware, circular, dipped dark blue, with applied white reliefs, edges polished. At the left Liberty holding a pole, on which is a cap of liberty, in her left hand shakes hands with France who wears a helmet and holds an oval shield decorated with fleurs-de-lis in relief in her left hand. Between them is an altar impressed with an inscription on which stands a figure of Public Faith holding a sheaf of corn in one hand and a cornucopia in the other. Marked.
- Production date
- 1789-1795 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Diameter: 61 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
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- Curator's comments
- Bindman
Josiah Wedgwood jun. wrote to his father on 29 July 1789: “Inclosed is the sketch of the medallion I mentioned to you last night. The figure on the altar with the Caduceus in one hand & the Cornucopia in the other is Public Credit or Faith & instead of the caduceus on the Altar there ought, I think, to be the words Fid. Pub. For fides publica, the goddess of liberty with the cap of liberty in her left hand takes hold of France in her right’.
There is another example of this medallion in the Wedgwood Museum, Barlaston (M-0151-1), set into an ivory-mounted snuffbox.
Literature: R.L. Hobson, 'Catalogue of English Pottery', London, 1903, I 675.
- Location
- On display (G46/dc18/p4/no16)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2005 Jul 07-Nov 13, London, National Maritime Museum, 'Nelson and Napoleon'
1990 6 Jun-9 Sep, France, Vizille, Musée de la Révolution Française, The French Revolution : La Version Anglaise
- Associated events
- Commemoration of: French Revolution
- Acquisition date
- 1853
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1853,1104.12
