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Joe's Farewell

Decorative Arts and Design

On View: Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
MEDIUM Unglazed porcelain
DATES Designed 1872-1873
DIMENSIONS 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 5 9/16 in. (24.1 x 19.1 x 14.1 cm)  (show scale)
MARKINGS On front of base, cast incised: "DOLLY VARDEN AND JOE WILLETT / JOE'S FAREWELL"
SIGNATURE Incised on rear of base, right: "D.C. FRENCH"
ACCESSION NUMBER 1995.98.1
CREDIT LINE Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange
CATALOGUE DESCRIPTION Realistically rendered figural group based on "Barnaby Rudge" by Charles Dickens (published in England in 1841). Stepped oval base, the top of which is modeled as a tile floor on an incline. Two figures in 18th-century clothing in foreground: at left, a woman with head cast downward and fretting the bottom edge of her apron in her hands, at left, a young man holding his cap at his chest with proper right hand and his proper left hand behind his back. The couple stands in front of a blacksmith's fireplace with a firebox at table height and tools in the fire; above this on the chimney, keys and padlocks are hung and on the shelf on the left side of the chimney is a Toby jug. Left of the fireplace is a stump with an anvil and hammer on it. On the floor are padlocks, a hammer and a traveler's bundle. Condition: Handle of hammer on floor and handle of traveler's bundle missing. Blind crack runs from rear right base through center of base, with a small chip on corner of base at this crack. Fine horizontal crack on female proper right angle. Crack along proper right side of male neck, filled with a resin.
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Luce Visible Storage and Study Center, 5th Floor
CAPTION Daniel Chester French (American, 1850-1931). Joe's Farewell, Designed 1872-1873. Unglazed porcelain, 9 1/2 x 7 1/2 x 5 9/16 in. (24.1 x 19.1 x 14.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Benno Bordiga, by exchange, 1995.98.1. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1995.98.1_PS1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 1995.98.1_PS1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2006
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RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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