Description:
English or possibly Irish delft broad, circular punch bowl inscribed "Success to genl Wolfe" and decorated with Fazackerly colors of blue, sage green, yellow, and rust red. The rare inscription on this large punch bowl toasts success to Major-General James Wolfe (1727-1759), who commanded the British forces in the expedition against Quebec during the French and Indian War (1754-1763). Wolfe sailed from England with 9,000 men in February 1759, landing below Quebec City on June 26th. Their difficult mission entailed attacking the French troops at their strongest position. July and August were spent unsuccessfully attempting to breach the French fortifications. On the night of September 13th, Wolfe and his men scaled the heights of Quebec, and defeated the French army led by General Louis Joseph de Montcalm (1712-1759) on the Plains of Abraham. Both Wolfe and Montcalm died of wounds received during the battle. This decisive British victory helped end the war in North America in 1760, though fighting continued for three more years in the Caribbean, India, and Europe. With the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763, France ceded its major North American holdings to Britain. Wolfe became a great romanticized hero after his death, and his image was commemorated in numerous paintings, prints, and other decorative arts. Wolfe's memory was particularly revered in Boston and other New England newspapers printed poems and odes to his courage and sacrifice. The outside of the bowl is decorated with two large yellow, blue, red, and green floral sprays on opposite sides, a design which was introduced in the 1740s and is associated with Liverpool; the bowl has an applied, circular foot. The Dublin attribution comes from Peter Francis, author of Irish Ceramics at Churchill, pp.130-31, cat. 54. Four polychrome Fazackerly patterns which imitate English wares have been attributed to Dublin. The Wolfe punch bowl is similar in color palette and decoration to an attributed Dublin plate which has a painter's number on the reverse - one characteristic of Irish delftware. Francis goes on to say that future research could focus on the handwriting style of the decorator of the punch bowl.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+54.206 |
