Mar 21, 2013 - Sale 2308

Sale 2308 - Lot 157

Price Realized: $ 2,400
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 3,500 - $ 5,000
(SLAVERY AND ABOLITION.) [WEDGEWOOD, JOSAIAH.] Britania Set Me Free. Shadowbox with a rectangular (3-1/2 x 3 inches) painting on ivory [?] of Britannia pointing her hand at the classic Wedgewood designed figure of the kneeling slave, whose body is mad of black wax or resin; tiny metallic chains fall from his wrists, while a banner flows from his mouth with the motto "Britannia Set me Free." All of this is beneath a convex piece of glass, bearing delicate reverse painting of a white decorative border over the ivory painting beneath. The whole of this is set within a gilt-painted, recessed circular wooden frame, which in turn is contained in a typical nineteenth century square frame. Np [Great Britain], circa 1834
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Additional Details

An unusual piece, more than likely created on the occasion of Great Britain's Emancipation of her slaves in the West Indies in 1834. Josiah Wedgewood (1730-1795), a dedicated abolitionist and close friend of Thomas Clarkson designed the "logo" of the kneeling slave for the Society for the Abolition of Slavery in 1787. It originally bore the caption "Am I not a Man and a Brother." This was taken up by the American abolitionists, and in 1835 Patrick Reason, a young black engraver created a version of a kneeling woman that bore the caption "Am I not a Woman and a Sister?" We have tentatively dated this at 1834 because of the act of Parliament emancipating all of Great Britain's slaves in the West Indies in that year. The earlier successes of Wilberforce and Clarkson that resulted in the 1807 ban on the taking of slaves from Africa would not have been as stated as definitely as "Britannia set me free." We have also observed another similar piece from the same period, a reverse painting on glass that was sold in these rooms in our March 1st, 2012 sale.