CIRCA 1875, INCISED FACTORY MARK, G. TINWORTH AND ARTIST'S MONOGRAM TO REVERSE

Details

A DOULTON LAMBETH STONEWARE CIRCULAR HIGH-RELIEF WALL PLAQUE BY GEORGE TINWORTH
CIRCA 1875, INCISED FACTORY MARK, G. TINWORTH AND ARTIST'S MONOGRAM TO REVERSE
Modelled in high relief with a nest, two chicks and parent birds surrounded by flowering and fruiting brambles, a fox emerging from its hole below, the integral frame with incised inscription 'FOXES HAVE HOLES AND THE BIRDS OF THE AIR HAVE NESTS', glazed in greens, browns, manganese and white, mounted in a square gilt-wood frame
The plaque: 17 7/8 in. (45.5 cm.) diameter
The frame: 23 ¼ in. (59.2 cm.) square

Provenance

Acquired from Richard Dennis, 1985.

Literature

Reports of the United States Commissioners to the Paris Universal Exposition, 1878, p. 144 (almost certainly the pulpit from which this panel is taken is described as part of the Doulton display at the Philadelphia exhibition, 1876).
E. W. Gosse, A Critical Essay on the Life and Works of George Tinworth, London, 1883, p. 63 (almost certainly this panel mentioned - 'on the door of the pulpit is a bird's nest, illustrating the passage: The birds of the air have nests', it also states that the pulpit was exhibited at the Philadelphia exhibition in 1876 and is 'now in the Smithsonian Institute, Washington).
C. Gere and M. Whiteway, Nineteenth-Century Design: From Pugin to Mackintosh, London, 1993, p. 165, pl. 207 (apparently erroneously described as exhibited at the Exposition Universelle, Paris, 1878).
B. Coleman, The Best of British Arts & Crafts, Atglen, PA, 2004, p. 201-202.

Exhibited

Philadelphia, The Centennial International Exhibition, 1876.

Special notice

Specified lots (sold and unsold) marked with a filled square ( ¦ ) not collected from Christie’s, 8 King Street, London SW1Y 6QT by 5.00pm on the day of the sale will, at our option, be removed to Crozier Park Royal (details below). Christie’s will inform you if the lot has been sent offsite.If the lot is transferred to Crozier Park Royal, it will be available for collection from 12.00pm on the second business day following the sale.Please call Christie’s Client Service 24 hours in advance to book a collection time at Crozier Park Royal. All collections from Crozier Park Royal will be by pre-booked appointment only.Tel: +44 (0)20 7839 9060 Email: cscollectionsuk@christies.com.If the lot remains at Christie’s, 8 King Street, it will be available for collection on any working day (not weekends) from 9.00am to 5.00pm

Conditions of sale

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Adrian Hume-Sayer Director, Specialist

Lot Essay

The inscription is taken from Chapter 8, verse 20 of the Gospel of Matthew in the New Testament Bible and reads in full: 'Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.' The plaque is almost certainly from the pulpit exhibited by Doulton at the 1876 Philadelphia exhibition.

George Tinworth (1843-1913) was apprenticed to his father as a wheelwright before enrolling in 1861 in evening classes in sculpture at the Lambeth School of Art, studying under John Sparks and Edwin Bale. In 1864, he was admitted to the Royal Academy Schools. He joined the Royal Doulton Potteries, Lambeth, in 1867 and remained there until his death in 1913. M. H. Spielmann, in his British Sculpture and Sculptors of Today (1901), noted that 'apart from the legitimate designs for pottery and the like, dramatic high-relief panels with numerous figures on a small scale have absorbed the energies of Mr Tinworth'. Tinworth exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1866 and 1885. In 1875, he showed a series of small terracotta panels depicting religious scenes, which were praised by the critic John Ruskin.

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