Figure of Demosthenes (c. 1800): Art, History and Details

Figure of Demosthenes (c. 1800) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Enoch Wood (British, 1759–1840).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Ceramic figures often depicted literary or mythological characters as a means of representing knowledge and intellectual refinement. As a result, they became an integral part of the decoration of most middle-class or wealthy houses in the 1700s and early 1800s. This figure depicts the Athenian orator Demosthenes (384–322 BC) delivering one of his philosophical lectures. The adjacent plinth reinforces his identity with a small image of a man lecturing the sea, something Demosthenes was known to do, while Hermes, the Greek god of eloquence, hovers above.

Object facts

• Title: Figure of Demosthenes
• Date: c. 1800
• Creator attribution: Enoch Wood (British, 1759–1840)
• Culture: England, Staffordshire, Burslem
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: lead glazed earthenware
• Dimensions: Overall: 47.5 x 39.2 x 18.6 cm (18 11/16 x 15 7/16 x 7 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Decorative Arts
• Department: Decorative Art and Design
• Accession number: 2003.249

A detail from the museum

In Victorian times, this figure was thought to depict St. Paul preaching in Athens, but it actually portrays the Greek orator Demosthenes delivering one of his philosophical lectures.

Collection credit

Bequest of Nicholas J. Velloney

Further reading listed by the museum

• Halfpenny, P. A. English Earthenware Figures, 1740-1840. Woodbridge, Suffolk [England]: Antique Collectors' Club, 1991.
• Poole, Julia. English Pottery. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
• Victoria and Albert Museum, and English Ceramic Circle. Fire and Form: The Baroque and Its Influence on English Ceramics C. 1660-C. 1760. 2013.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.