- Museum number
- 1983,0602.1
- Description
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Wall plaque; creamware, painted in bright colours with a partly draped Nubian lady holding a fan in one hand and juggling with three oranges in the other; behind her is a screen and a massive stone head with cacti and shrubs; the border is decorated with a band of lotus flowers and buds.
- Production date
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1877 (made)
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1878 (designed and decorated)
- Dimensions
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Diameter: 38.50 centimetres
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- Curator's comments
- Text from J. Rudoe, 'Decorative Arts 1850-1950. A catalogue of the British Museum collection'. 2nd ed. no. 310
After an early training in the potteries, Allen won a National Art Training Scholarship in London in 1852 for two years, returning to Stoke to work for Minton until late 1875 or early 1876, when he joined Wedgwood. He was appointed Wedgwood's Art Director in 1878, a post he held until his partial retirement in 1898. His work received its first international showing at the Paris Exhibition of 1878, including a similar wall plaque with a classical scene of a paintress decorating a vase (Art Journal, London 1878, 54). Examples of Allen's painted wares were also shown by Wedgwood at the Society of Arts exhibition of Modern English Pottery held in 1882 (]ournal of the Society of Arts 30, 770 and 920).
Egyptian motifs are here interpreted very freely: the Cobra head-dress suggests Egyptian royalty, but the figure wears no jewellery, while the diaphanous draperies and the posture are not at all Egyptian but modelled rather on the subtle eroticism favoured by artists such as Leighton or Poynter. For further discussion, see A. Dawson, 'Masterpieces of Wedgwood in the British Museum', London 1984, 142-3, col. pl. 15b.
The Wedgwood factory owns a number of original drawings by Allen, while his journal is to be found in the Wedgwood archive at the University of Keele. For Allen, see R. Haggar, ''Thomas Allen', Proceedings of the Wedgwood Society 6, London 1966 and 'Thomas Allen - a further note', ibid. 7, London 1968; D. Rockwell, 'The Artistry of Thomas Allen',, Proceedings of the 28th Annual Wedgwood Seminar, held at the Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, Florida, 21-16 March 1983; 137-51. M. Batkin, 'Wedgwood Ceramics 1846-1959', London 1982, 60-61, pls 135-43 and 203-10.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
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Exhibited:
2022 - 2023 23 Nov - 4 Dec, London, BM, Members' Room, The power of souvenirs
1994 15 Oct -1995 15 Jan, Austria, Vienna, Künstlerhaus, Egyptomanie
1994 18 Jan-18 Apr, France, Paris, Musee du Louvre, Egyptomanie
- Acquisition date
- 1983
- Department
- Britain, Europe and Prehistory
- Registration number
- 1983,0602.1