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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.1217
People
Wedgwood & Bentley, British (in business 1769-1780)
Modelled by William Hackwood, British (1757 - 1839)
Title
Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790)
Classification
Medals and Medallions
Work Type
medallion
Date
c. 1775
Places
Creation Place: Europe, United Kingdom, England, Etruria
Culture
British
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/229901

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Light blue-grey jasper body with darker blue glaze and profile head in white
Technique
Jasperware
Dimensions
sight: 6 x 4.9 x 1.2 cm (2 3/8 x 1 15/16 x 1/2 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • inscription: lower edge, impressed: Dr. Franklin
  • manufacturer's mark: verso, impressed: Wedgwood & Bentley
  • gallery label: back of frame, paper and black ink, printed: F. RATHBONE / 20 Alfred Place West / South Kensington, / LONDON, S.W.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
[Frederick Rathbone, London, England], sold; to Grenville Lindall Winthrop, New York, NY, bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.1217
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Descriptions

Description
Franklin in left profile, bare-headed and bare shoulders. Slight firing flaw on background at back of neck.

Publication History

  • Old Wedgwood from the Bequest of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1944), no. 62, p. 28
  • Washington, Lafayette, Franklin: Portraits, Books, Manuscripts, Prints, Memorabilia, for the Most Part from the Collections of the University, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1944), pp. 29-30, cat. 61
  • Charles Coleman Sellers, Benjamin Franklin in Portraiture, Yale University Press (New Haven, CT, 1962), p. 397, pl. 11
  • Louise Todd Ambler, Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, MA, 1975), pp. 91, 125, no. 54, ill. p. 91
  • Wedgwood Portraits and the American Revolution, exh. cat., National Portrait Gallery (Washington, D.C, 1976), p. 13
  • Judith A. Neiswander, "Selections from the Ceramics Collection of the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University", Ars Ceramica, Wedgwood Society of New York (Bronx, NY, 1991), no. 8, p. 38, repr. as fig. 4
  • Gordon Wood, The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin, Penguin Press (New York, NY, 2004), p. 140, ill. p. 141

Exhibition History

  • Washington Lafayette Franklin, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 02/22/1944 - 05/28/1944
  • Old Wedgwood from the Bequest of Grenville Lindall Winthrop, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 06/04/1944 - 09/03/1944
  • Benjamin Franklin: A Perspective, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 04/17/1975 - 09/22/1975
  • Benjamin Franklin: A How-to Guide, The Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments, Cambridge, 08/27/2007 - 09/30/2007

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu