Accession number
PML 198667
Creator
Wedgwood, Josiah, 1730-1795, designer.
Published
[London?] : [Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade?], [1790?]
Credit line
Purchased as the gift of Joshua W. Sommer, 2021.
Notes
Title supplied by cataloger.
"On 5 July 1787 the London Committee resolved that 'a seal be engraved for use of this Society and that Joseph Woods, Dr. Hooper, and Philip Sansom be requested to prepare a design for the same.' On 16 October the subcommittee reported that Joseph Woods had 'brought in a specimen of a design ... expressive of an African in chains in a supplicating posture with the motto 'Am I not a man and a brother?' which being approved the subcommittee before appointed is desired to get it well engraved.' It is not clear whether the emblem was Woods's own design or that of an artist he employed, but the motif was engraved on a copper plate for printing purposes and appeared on Society publications as early as 1788. ... In late 1787, Wedgwood planned and produced a number of cameos or medallions based on the Society's seal, which were sculpted by his chief modeler, William Hackwood. ... The so-called Slave Medallion was tremendously successful, quickly becoming an icon of the abolitionist cause. ... the medallions were incorporated into bracelets, hairpins, and boxes, while the motif of the suppliant slave imploring, "Am I not a man and a brother?" adorned a wide array of objects ..."--Graham C. Boettcher, in Art and emancipation in Jamaica (2007), page 295.
"On 5 July 1787 the London Committee resolved that 'a seal be engraved for use of this Society and that Joseph Woods, Dr. Hooper, and Philip Sansom be requested to prepare a design for the same.' On 16 October the subcommittee reported that Joseph Woods had 'brought in a specimen of a design ... expressive of an African in chains in a supplicating posture with the motto 'Am I not a man and a brother?' which being approved the subcommittee before appointed is desired to get it well engraved.' It is not clear whether the emblem was Woods's own design or that of an artist he employed, but the motif was engraved on a copper plate for printing purposes and appeared on Society publications as early as 1788. ... In late 1787, Wedgwood planned and produced a number of cameos or medallions based on the Society's seal, which were sculpted by his chief modeler, William Hackwood. ... The so-called Slave Medallion was tremendously successful, quickly becoming an icon of the abolitionist cause. ... the medallions were incorporated into bracelets, hairpins, and boxes, while the motif of the suppliant slave imploring, "Am I not a man and a brother?" adorned a wide array of objects ..."--Graham C. Boettcher, in Art and emancipation in Jamaica (2007), page 295.
Description
1 token : silver; 33 mm
Summary
Silver medal, manufactured circa 1790, probably in London; issued to promote the message of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Obverse with Josiah Wedgwood's design of the kneeling enslaved man in chains, with text: "Am I not a man and a brother?" Reverse with text: "Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them."
Binding
Pamphlet binder.
Classification
Catalog link
Department