- Museum number
- 1887,0307,VIII.7
- Description
-
Plaque; hard-paste unglazed porcelain; ornamented with garland of naturalistically-modelled porcelain flowers tied at top with gilt porcelain bow enclosing gilt laurel wreath of porcelain which frames relief portrait to right of Benjamin Franklin on raised oval medallion; plaque decorated near rim with thick gilt band; mounted in wooden frame; unmarked.
- Production date
- 1775 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 22.50 centimetres
- Curator's comments
-
Sold from the William Edkins collection, Sotheby's, Wilkins and Hodge, April 1874, lot 76
A similar Bristol porcelain plaque (but without any gilding) is in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (M.80.205.18) (gift of Catherine Hearst and ex Lewis estate sale of George Washington Estate, 10 December 1890 lot 141).
-
Dawson 1987
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), American statesman, who assisted in drawing up the Declaration of Independence in 1775, is shown without his wig in a view similar to one produced in jasper by Josiah Wedgwood, probably based on a bust by J. J. Caffiéri of about 1777 (see R. Reilly and G. Savage, 'Wedgwood, The Portrait Medallions', London 1973, p. 147 e; the illustration reproduces an example marked Wedgwood in the British Museum reg. no. 1909,1201,151). The Sèvres factory also manufactured a portrait medallion of Franklin in this pose from 1777 (Dawson is grateful to Madame Préaud, archivist of the Sèvres factory, for this information).
In 1873 Owen reproduced the text of a copy of an unsigned letter in Franklin's hand from Paris dated 3rd January 1778 apparently thanking Champion (?) for his present of a medallion portrait (Owen, 1873, p. 93). The Bristol plaque is thought to be the largest and most elaborate example made at the factory, which apparently also produced a white biscuit medallion of Franklin (Edkins sale, Sotheby's, 21 April 1874, lot 77, Owen op. cit., p. 93). Another fine biscuit plaque in the Museum collection ornamented with martial trophies bears a medallion head of George Washington. Both may have been made for the American market. Champion was an active friend of the American cause. Some time after selling his factory in 1781 he emigrated to South Carolina. He presented two examples each of his Franklin and Washington medallions to G. Washington (Sellers 1962, p. 369).
Literature: P. Nelson, Bristol Biscuit Plaques, Connoisseur, vol. IV, no. 23, July 1903, fig. II; C. C. Sellers, 'Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture', New Haven and London, 1962, pp. 369-70.
- Location
- On display (G46/dc18)
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
1987 Jun 10-Jun 15, London, International Ceramics Fair and Seminar Ltd, 'International Ceramics Fair and Seminar'
1979-1980 Sep-Jan, Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 'Bristol Fine Wares 1670-1970', no. I.57
1970 May-Jun, Bristol City Art Gallery, 'Bristol Porcelain Bicentenary Exhibition 1770-1970', no. 57
- Acquisition date
- 1887
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1887,0307,VIII.7