{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O131253"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O131253/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0301/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2007BM0301/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2007BM0301","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0303","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0302","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0300","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0299","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0298","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0297","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0296","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2007BM0295","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2006AT5523","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2019LX7458","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O131253/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O131253","accessionNumber":"8107&A-1863","objectType":"Ewer","titles":[],"summaryDescription":"This massive and ambitious ewer and stand is one of Minton's most imposing exhibition pieces and was shown at the International Exhibition in London in 1862. It exemplifies the use, in Victorian design, of a number of historical sources in combination with the latest in nineteenth-century ceramic techniques. \r\n\r\nThe stand is painted with the labours of Hercules, after Lebrun and the ewer is painted from engravings by Raffaello Guidi after Polidoro da Caravaggio.\r\n\r\nOriginally intended for hand-washing before a meal, by Renaissance times ewer and basins were display pieces indicative of wealth and status. Their form is here revived to demonstrate Minton's excellence of design and command of the new 'majolica' glazes.\r\n\r\n\tThe Minton company pioneered the development of majolica glazes, and the materials and processes were perfected by the art director, Joseph François Léon Arnoux (1816-1902), in 1849. These were based in part on Italian Renaissance maiolica and Bernard Palissy's pottery, but whereas maiolica pigments are painted onto a raw tin glaze (which fired to an opaque white), Minton's majolica, like Palissy's pottery, used brightly coloured semi-transparent lead glazes applied to the biscuit-fired body. Much of commercial majolica production was naturalistically modelled with broad treatment of colour, but this ewer and stand, expressly made to demonstrate the medium's potential, is mannerist in sculptural style and very finely painted onto the biscuit body, with designs taken from sixteenth- and late seventeenth-century sources. In terms of contemporary taste and usage, majolica suited the imposing interiors of Victorian houses and appealed to the antiquarian and sentimental interest in the past.","physicalDescription":"Earthenware ewer and stand with underglaze painting and majolica glazes.The ewer a classical shape with a moulded mermaid below the spout, the handle modelled as a merman bending backwards and clutching his divided foliate tail, the body of the ewer, naturalistically painted with deities standing in niches, the stand with four panels painted with the labours of Hercules contained by moulded masks and foliage.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Jeannest, Pierre-Emile","id":"A1439"},"association":{"text":"designer","id":"x36960"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[{"name":{"text":"Minton","id":"A9175"},"association":{"text":"maker","id":"x40240"},"note":""}],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"earthenware","id":"x29356"}],"techniques":[{"text":"glazing","id":"AAT53914"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Earthenware, glazed","categories":[{"text":"Ceramics","id":"THES48982"},{"text":"Majolica","id":"THES48923"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"CER","id":"THES48594"},"images":["2007BM0301","2007BM0303","2007BM0302","2007BM0300","2007BM0299","2007BM0298","2007BM0297","2007BM0296","2007BM0295","2006AT5523","2019LX7458"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"145 (VA)","id":"THES49865"},"free":"","case":"51","shelf":"","box":""},{"current":{"text":"145 (VA)","id":"THES49865"},"free":"","case":"51","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Ewer","id":""}],[{"text":"Plateau","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""},{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Staffordshire","id":"x29181"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"ca. 1862","earliest":"1857-01-01","latest":"1866-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Weight","value":"9.85","unit":"kg","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Height","value":"72.8","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":"Ewer and Stand together."}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[{"content":"'Minton'","inscriber":{"name":{"text":"","id":""},"association":{"text":"","id":""}},"date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"description":"","interpretation":"","language":"","medium":"","method":"","position":"","script":"","translation":"","transliteration":"","type":"","note":"Impressed on stand"}],"objectHistory":"Purchased from International Exhibition, 1862","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Ewer and stand, earthenware with underglaze majolica glazes, Minton, ca.1862","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"See Ceramics & Glass Object Information File"},{"reference":{"text":"Liefkes, Reino and Hilary Young (eds.) <i>Masterpieces of World Ceramics in the Victoria and Albert Museum</i>. London: V&A Publishing, 2008","id":"AUTH354348"},"details":"pp. 116 -117, ill.","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Hercules","id":"N179"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"mermaid","id":"x35947"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["8107-1863","8107A-1863"],"accessionNumberNum":"8107","accessionNumberPrefix":"","accessionYear":1863,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE","Ewer","Plateau"],"assets":["2019LP3802","2019LR6235","2019LT5332","2019LT5021","2019LU5252","2019LW8111"],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-16","recordCreationDate":"2007-02-02","availableToBook":false}}