Images(2)

Plate

Date1764 (dated)

OriginEngland, London

MediumTin-glazed earthenware (delft)

DimensionsDiam: 9 1/4" (23.5 cm).

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1958-276

DescriptionPlate without a foot ring. Bluish tin glaze decorated in polychrome: in the well, an amorous couple outline and detailed in manganese, the woman's gown and the man's coat trim in yellow, the man's breeches, hair, and shoes in manganese, and the remainder in blue; on the rim, an ornate leaf scroll border in blue, the date 1764 in blue.
Label TextScholar Frank Britton has researched the subject of the decoration on this plate in connection with that on a similar example at the Bristol Museum. According to Britton, this plate "was illustrated on a coloured postcard issued by the Greater London Council, inscribed 'Plate of Lambeth delftware dated 1764 with the figures of Polly Peachum and Macheath from the Beggars' Opera. By kind permission of Colonel S. Rogers.''' Britton was unable to find a print of Polly and Macheath in the same pose as that on the plate. Having traced the mid-eighteenth-century history of the subject, he concludes: "In sum, we believe that this plate was made to commemorate the foundation of the Theatre Royal, Bristol, that it does probably represent Polly Peachum and Macheath, and that it could well have been made at a London pottery. But it must be emphasized that this belief rests entirely on circumstantial evidence."
Inscribed1764 on the base in blue.
MarkingsNone
ProvenanceR. Hall-Warren; Colonel S. Rogers; J. Weston.
A. F. Allbrook, London

Exhibition(s)