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Royal Doulton Dickens Ware pitcher decorated with an image of Fagin

Object | Accession Number: 2016.184.71

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    Royal Doulton Dickens Ware pitcher decorated with an image of Fagin

    Overview

    Brief Narrative
    Dickens Ware series pitcher featuring an image of Fagin, made by Royal Doulton in England during the 20th century. Royal Doulton is an English ceramic manufacturer that specializes in artistically styled, decorated ceramics and tableware. In 1889, Charles Noke joined the company. He later introduced Doulton Series Ware, plates, and other items with decorations based on characters from popular culture. In 1908, Royal Doulton introduced the Dickens Ware series based on Charles Dickens’ characters, which was originally produced until 1937. A second run of the series was produced mid-century. On the pitcher, Fagin is portrayed with a beard and a large nose; both stereotypical physical features attributed to Jewish men. In “Oliver Twist,” Fagin is the villainous leader of a gang of children whom he has instructed in the ways of criminality. He attempts to corrupt the protagonist, Oliver, in the same manner. In the novel, Fagin is first seen hunched over a fire holding a toasting fork, imagery that reinforces the antisemitic stereotype of Jewish associations with the devil, due to its resemblance of a pitchfork. He is repeatedly referred to as “the Jew” in the book and is emphasized as a greedy, miserly, and cowardly character, all traits aligning with common antisemitic stereotypes. However, in a later edition of the novel, Dickens reduced his use of “the Jew,” substituting it for pronouns or other phrases. Even in this later version, Fagin is still repeatedly, and negatively, referred to as “the Jew” and remains emblematic of multiple antisemitic canards. Later writings by Dickens portrayed Jews in a more positive light, however, the reprehensible Fagin is his most remembered Jewish character. This pitcher is one of the more than 900 items in the Katz Ehrenthal Collection of antisemitic artifacts and visual materials.
    Date
    creation:  1908-approximately 1975
    Geography
    creation: England
    Credit Line
    United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, Gift of the Katz Family
    Markings
    underside, trademark, painted, brown paint : (COPY?)RIGHT / [within a circular border around a central image of Charles Dickens] ROYAL·DOULTON DICKENS·WARE
    underside, below trademark, painted, black paint : Fagin.
    underside, top, handwritten, brown paint : D302[illegible]
    Signature
    left side, within image, bottom center, left of Fagin’s feet, handwritten, black ink : Noke
    Contributor
    Compiler: Peter Ehrenthal
    Manufacturer: Royal Doulton
    Designer: Charles Noke
    Biography
    The Katz Ehrenthal Collection is a collection of more than 900 objects depicting Jews and antisemitic and anti-Jewish propaganda from the medieval to the modern era, in Europe, Russia, and the United States. The collection was amassed by Peter Ehrenthal, a Romanian Holocaust survivor, to document the pervasive history of anti-Jewish hatred in Western art, politics and popular culture. It includes crude folk art as well as pieces created by Europe's finest craftsmen, prints and periodical illustrations, posters, paintings, decorative art, and toys and everyday household items decorated with depictions of stereotypical Jewish figures.

    Physical Details

    Language
    English
    Classification
    Household Utensils
    Category
    Drinking vessels
    Object Type
    Pitchers (lcsh)
    Genre/Form
    Pottery.
    Physical Description
    Rectangular, white, ceramic pitcher painted with an interior scene of a man with a large nose and long gray beard, walking in front of a closed door and paned-window with green shutters set into a brick wall. The pitcher has a slender, angled handle, highlighted with a centered, dark green stripe on the back and along the sides. A protruding spout along the top, front edge, directly opposite the handle, and the pitcher’s rim are also edged in dark green. The body of the pitcher tapers down into the flat tan-colored base which is slightly flared out. The man in the image wears a long, brown, sleeveless robe over a green, long-sleeved shirt and pinstriped, green pants. A red rag or handkerchief hangs from his waist pocket. His head is turned, looking back over his shoulder in a sidelong glance. He walks on a wood-planked floor that fades into the white coloring of the pitcher. The brick wall and planked floor in the background encompass every side of the pitcher. The edge of the doorframe behind him rounds the corner and continues onto the back, where the handle is attached. Visible behind the handle are the joined ends of the transfer-printed image: the cut-off, left half of a dresser is directly beside the cut-off, spout-end of a watering can. The next side has a clotheshorse laden with clothes in front of a fireplace. The front depicts a single wooden chair and table with a bottle and several mugs sitting on it. Clothes are hanging on wall pegs, and the window above the table continues onto the side with the man. The bottom of the pitcher bears a circular maker’s mark with a portrait image of a bearded man. The artist’s signature is visible beside the man’s feet.
    Dimensions
    overall: Height: 5.000 inches (12.7 cm) | Width: 2.625 inches (6.668 cm) | Depth: 3.750 inches (9.525 cm)
    Materials
    overall : ceramic, glaze, paint, ink

    Rights & Restrictions

    Conditions on Access
    No restrictions on access
    Conditions on Use
    No restrictions on use

    Keywords & Subjects

    Geographic Name
    England.

    Administrative Notes

    Provenance
    The pitcher was donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in 2016 by the Katz Family.
    Funding Note
    The cataloging of this artifact has been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.
    Special Collection
    Katz Ehrenthal Collection
    Record last modified:
    2024-02-21 07:11:15
    This page:
    https:​/​/collections.ushmm.org​/search​/catalog​/irn537173

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