Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants Programme - Deadline 4 June 2014

Curators - don't miss out!

The deadline for large grant applications under the Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants programme is approaching.

The Ruffer programme provides £50,000 annually for travel and other practical costs to help curators undertake collection and exhibition research projects.

Since the scheme's inception in 2012 over 100 curators and researchers have been helped to undertake projects across Asia, Africa, America and Europe. Full details on the programme and some of the awards already made can be found on the ArtFund website.

Applications under £1,500 can be accepted at any time.

Applications over £1,500 are only considered three times a year.

The next deadline for large applications is on Wednesday 4 June 2014

For more information on aims and eligibility, and the other ways the ArtFund supports curators, can be found by clicking HERE.

Ceramic Empire: The Trade in Staffordshire Pottery

A new exhibition starts on 24th May 2014 at the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery in Stoke-on-Trent. Click HERE to find out more...

Platter, Mausoleum of Sultan Purveiz. Attributed to William Walsh, Burslem, circa 1815-22

The platter is underglaze printed and painted, and the pattern includes elements from three aquatints from Thomas Daniell’s Oriental Scenery (see Eastern Street Scene below):  Eastern Gate of the Jummah Musjid at Delhi, The Sacred Tree of the Hindoos at Gyah, Bahar and Ruins at the Ancient City of Gour Formerly on the Banks of the River Ganges.

Soup plate, earthenware, underglaze printed with Giraffe.

John Ridgway, Shelton, Staffordshire, 1836-41.

Backstamp to Giraffe soup plate

The source of this pattern is a colour lithograph, Giraffes with the Arabs who brought them over to England, 1836. The engraver, George Scharf the elder, worked for the London Zoological Gardens. Four giraffes were captured in the Sudan and brought to the London Zoo via Malta in 1836. This event inspired prints which pottery manufacturers were quick to use to create transfer-printed patterns.