From:Williamson Art Gallery and Museum
Name/TitleDella Robbia Stoup
About this objectA Della Robbia holy water stoup made of white earthenware. It is moulded with 2 angels supporting a crown and a winged cherub's head above. Between the figures there is a sgraffito drawing of the Virgin and Child, titled AVE MARIA. Below this is an arcade with 5 standing praying angels and a gadrooned basin rising from a moulded winged cherub's head.
Emily Margaret Wood was a ceramicist, journalist and naturalist. She spent her childhood in India which inspired her love for botany, which she continued in her prolific work for the Liverpool Naturalists Field Club, of which she became secretary. She started at the pottery in the Architect's Department but also dealt in domestic wares and vases. She is best known for her extensive collection of botanical illustrations and was a talented watercolourist. She supported her elderly mother after her parents' separation which meant taking multiple jobs as a journalist, potter, colourist and nature study teacher. This led to an untimely death in 1907 from exhaustion after a bout of enterocolitis.
This piece is probably from her time in the Architecture department, who specialised in religious wall plaques. Her skill as an artist can be seen in the composition and how all the religious elements fit in together as well as the construction of the basin. It can also be seen in the miniature portrait of the Virgin and Child.
MakerDella Robbia Pottery (active 1894-1906)
Maker Rolemanufacturer
MakerWood, Emily Margaret (1865-1907)
Maker Roledecorator
Date Madec.1894-1906
Period19th century
Medium and Materialsearthenware
Place MadeBirkenhead, Merseyside
Style and IconographyArts and Crafts
Inscription and Marksmark
D R P M
Method: sgraffito
Position: reverse
Techniqueearthenware
Measurementsheight: 54.25cm, width: 34cm, depth: 13cm
Subject and Association Keywordsangel
Subject and Association KeywordsVirgin Mary
Subject and Association Keywordssgraffito
Object Typestoup
Object numberBIKGM.6065
Copyright LicenceAll rights reserved
