bust

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Object Type
Museum number: 1887,0307,I.715
Description: Bust, black basalt, moulded, of Chaucer depicted full face with head-dress, tunic, and penner; circular plinth with border of raised key pattern and name impressed.
Producer name
Production date: 1775 (circa)
Production place: Factory in: Etruria (England)
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 14.30 inches
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Dawson 1984 This bust of the poet Geoffrey Chaucer (?1340-1400), the model for which was supplied by Hoskins and Grant in 1775, with a circular plinth decorated with a Greek key motif has always been considered to date from the Wedgwood and Bentley period even though it is unmarked. Similar bases are found on marked examples, and the basalt is of fine quality.
Bibliographic references: Hobson 1903 / Catalogue of the collection of English Pottery in the Department of British and Medieval Antiquites and Ethnography of the British Museum (I715); Dawson 1984 / Masterpieces of Wedgwood in the British Museum (p. 87, fig. 68)
Location: Not on display
Subjects: author/poet; headgear/hairstyle
Associated names
Acquisition name
Acquisition date: 1887
Department: Britain, Europe and Prehistory
Registration number: 1887,0307,I.715

Free entry