{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O123348"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O123348/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM9878/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AM9878/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AM9878","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX1481","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O123348/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O123348","accessionNumber":"414:202-1885","objectType":"Figure group","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This figure is of Lord Chatham (1708-78) who was raised to the Peerage and became Lord Keeper in 1766, as described on the inscription below. In the same year he declared himself in favour of a conciliatory policy towards the American colonies. America is represented here as a black woman who kneels, in gratitude, at Chatham’s feet.\r\n\r\nThe convention for depicting the Four Continents as female figures was used as early as the Counter-Reformation to symbolise the worldwide spread of Catholic Christendom. The figures were given wider appeal through their inclusion in the <i>Iconologia</i> of Cesare Ripa, an illustrated book of emblems widely used by artists from the early 17th century.\r\n\r\nWithin the convention, ‘America’ was depicted as an olive-skinned indigenous woman wearing ‘a Veil folded over her Shoulder; round her Body, an artificial Ornament of Feathers of divers Colours; in one Hand a Bow, and a Quiver by her Side; under one Foot a human Head pierc’d with an Arrow, and a Lizard on the Ground.’ Here, however, she appears as an African woman. This may be in allusion to the spread of slavery within the region, or may reflect indiference to, or conflation of, racial differences (at the Meissen porcelain factory, for example, America was often represented by a black-skinned man or woman wearing a feathered headdress).","physicalDescription":"Figure group, in soft-paste porcelain painted in enamels and gilded, of Lord Chatham who stands resting his right arm on a pedestal inscribed ‘VISCOUNT / PITT OF BURTON / PYNSENT, / EARL OF CHATM / LORD KEEPER / OF HIS MAJESTYS / PRIVY SEAL’; a black woman kneels at his feet at his side, with an alligator, in the allegorical form of 'America'; he wears court dress of white and gold and a purple cloak; the woman wears flowered drapery and a feathered head-dress and carries a quiver; at her side is a palm; supported on a shaped base; the pedestal and base are picked out in gold, and on the pedestal and at its foot are books with one corner adorned with a lion’s head and two paws","artistMakerPerson":[],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Derby Porcelain factory","id":"A9087"},"association":{"text":"manufacturer","id":"x33306"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"soft paste porcelain","id":"AAT10665"}],"techniques":[{"text":"painted","id":"x30138"},{"text":"gilded","id":"AAT53789"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Soft-paste porcelain, painted in enamels and gilded","categories":[{"text":"Black History","id":"THES48989"},{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Figures & Decorative ceramics","id":"THES48954"},{"text":"Porcelain","id":"THES48907"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2006AM9878","2019LX1481"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"139","id":"THES49874"},"free":"","case":"9","shelf":"4","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Derby","id":"x31922"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1767","earliest":"1762-01-01","latest":"1771-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Lady Charlotte Schreiber","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"36.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"29.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"base","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"‘VISCOUNT / PITT OF BURTON / PYNSENT, / EARL OF CHATm [Little m above a dot] / LORD KEEPER / OF HIS MAJESTYs  [Little s to the right of Y & above] / PRIVY SEAL’","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Inscription on side of pedestal"},{"content":"An anchor","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"In gold"}],"objectHistory":"Purchased by Lady Charlotte Schreiber from Willson, London, for £28 in September 1878.\r\nAcquired as Chelsea porcelain.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Figure group in soft-paste porcelain, painted with enamels and gilded, of Lord Chatham who stands resting his right arm on a pedestal and a black woman kneels at his feet at his side, with an alligator, in the allegorical form of 'America', made by Derby Porcelain Factory, Derby, ca. 1767.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Clifford, Timothy. Derby Porcelain and the British Monumental Sculpture Tradition 1760-1775. <u>Derby Porcelain International Society</u>. 2004, Journal 5. pp. 124-127."}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[{"text":"United States","id":"x29333"}],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Chatham, William Pitt (1st Earl of)","id":"N2663"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"man","id":"x35641"},{"text":"alligator","id":"x40782"},{"text":"woman","id":"x35642"},{"text":"Native American","id":"AAT17437"},{"text":"lion (animal)","id":"x34863"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"slavery","id":"AAT55309"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["414:202-1885"],"accessionNumberNum":"414","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1885,"otherNumbers":[{"type":{"text":"Schreiber number","id":"THES50279"},"number":"Sch. I 306"}],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2006-04-25","availableToBook":false}}