id: 162680 accession number: 2003.249 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/2003.249 updated: 2023-08-23 23:59:19.477000 Figure of Demosthenes, c. 1800. Enoch Wood (British, 1759–1840). Lead glazed earthenware; overall: 47.5 x 39.2 x 18.6 cm (18 11/16 x 15 7/16 x 7 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Bequest of Nicholas J. Velloney 2003.249 title: Figure of Demosthenes title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: c. 1800 creation date earliest: 1790 creation date latest: 1810 current location: 203A British Painting and Decorative Arts creditline: Bequest of Nicholas J. Velloney copyright: --- culture: England, Staffordshire, Burslem technique: lead glazed earthenware department: Decorative Art and Design collection: Decorative Arts type: Ceramic find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Enoch Wood (British, 1759–1840) - maker Enoch Wood (1759–1840) was an English potter and businessman, from one of the major families in Staffordshire pottery. Starting as a modeler, he established a successful business in Burslem in the Staffordshire Potteries, from 1790-1818 trading as Wood and Caldwell. In the 18th century they produced many Staffordshire figures, which Wood modeled himself, and other types of earthenware and stoneware. After 1818 his company, now Enoch Wood & Sons, produced large quantities of blue and white transfer-printed tableware in earthenware, much of which was exported to America. --- measurements: Overall: 47.5 x 39.2 x 18.6 cm (18 11/16 x 15 7/16 x 7 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020) opening date: 2020-06-30T04:00:00 British Gallery Reinstallation (June 2020). The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * No existing exhibition history --- PROVENANCE Nicholas J. Velloney [1941-2003], Cleveland, OH, bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art date: ?-2003 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 2003- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: In Victorian times, this figure was thought to depict St. Paul preaching in Athens, but it actually portrays the Greek orator Demosthenes delivering one of his philosophical lectures. digital description: Ceramic figures often depicted literary or mythological characters as a means of representing knowledge and intellectual refinement. As a result, they became an integral part of the decoration of most middle-class or wealthy houses in the 1700s and early 1800s. This figure depicts the Athenian orator Demosthenes (384–322 BC) delivering one of his philosophical lectures. The adjacent plinth reinforces his identity with a small image of a man lecturing the sea, something Demosthenes was known to do, while Hermes, the Greek god of eloquence, hovers above. wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Halfpenny, P. A. English Earthenware Figures, 1740-1840. Woodbridge, Suffolk [England]: Antique Collectors' Club, 1991. page number: p. 161. url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/24740883 Poole, Julia. English Pottery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995. page number: pp. 84-5 url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/30734557 Victoria and Albert Museum, and English Ceramic Circle. Fire and Form: The Baroque and Its Influence on English Ceramics C. 1660-C. 1760. 2013. page number: pp. 181-2 url: https://ingallslibrary.on.worldcat.org/oclc/857143889 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2003.249/2003.249_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2003.249/2003.249_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2003.249/2003.249_full.tif