Manual Ref* SUipIP092 Show 4 images 786
Title*

Four Continents
County Suffolk   District Council Ipswich Borough Council 
Civil Parish or equivalent Ipswich  Town/Village* Ipswich - Town Centre 
Road Cornhill 
Precise Location First floor of Town Hall 
OS Grid Ref TM165447  Postcode IP1 
Previous location(s)  
Setting In building  Access Public 
Artist/Maker Role Qualifier
Coalbrookdale Company  Metal worker(s)   
John Bell  Designer(s)   
Bellamy and Hardy  Architect(s)   

Commissioned by

 Ipswich Town Council 

Design & Constrn period

 1867 

Date of installing

  

Exact date of unveiling

 Unveiled 1 February 1868 

Category
Abstract Animal Architectural
Commercial Commemorative Composite
Free Functional Funerary
Heraldic Military Natural
Non-Commemorative Performance Portable
Religious Roadside, Wayside Sculptural
Temporary, Mobile Other  

Object Type
Building Clock Tower Architectural
Coat of Arms Cross Fountain
Landscape Marker Medallion
Mural Panel Readymade
Relief Shaft Sculpture
Statue Street Furniture War Memorial
Other Object Sub Type: Small statues of the continents

Subject Type
Allegorical Mythological Pictorial
Figurative Non-figurative Portrait
Still-life Symbolic Other

Subject Sub Type
Bust Equestrian Full-length
Group Head Reclining
Seated Standing Torso
Part Material Dimension
Four continents  Cast iron  Ea.H. 76 W. 19 D. 14 cms. 
Flames  Glass and cast iron  Ea. H. 16 dia/ 12 cms. 

Work is
Extant Not Sited Lost

Owner/Custodian

 Ipswich Town Council 

Listing status
Grade I Grade II* Grade II Don't Know Not Listed

Surface Condition
Corrosion, Deterioration Accretions
Bird Guano Abrasions, cracks, splits
Biological growth Spalling, crumbling
Metallic staining Previous treatments
Other  
Detail: Some blackening of the bronze

Structural Condition
Armature exposed Broken or missing parts
Replaced parts Loose elements
Cracks, splits, breaks, holes Spalling, crumbling
Water collection Other
Detail: Broken glass on Africa

Vandalism
Graffiti Structural damage Surface Damage
Detail:

Overall condition
Good Fair Poor

Risk
No Known Risk At Risk Immediate
Signatures/Marks  
Inscriptions  

Description (physical)

 The figures formed part of the original 1868 decoration, noted in the account of the opening in the Ipswich Journal ‘the great staircase is lighted by gas burners, each borne by a well modelled bronze figure.’ Understandably the report did not identify them and was mistaken in the material, cast iron not bronze: Europe is personified through her classically inspired contrapposto and wet-look drapery, America through her native furs, Africa by her Egyptian costume and hairdo and Asia through the gift she holds in her right hand. This follows nineteenth century accounts of a rediscovered vase showing Darius accompanied by Asian women bearing gifts, as reported in the New York Times 20 July 1854.  

Description (iconographical)

 They are reduced versions of a nearly life-size set of four cast by the Coalbrookdale Company in the 1860s, two of which are now on display at the Coalbrookdale Museum, Telford, designed by John Bell (1818 - 95). Bell had first worked with the Coalbrookdale Company in the late 1840s, and designed the cast iron Cupid and Swan fountain which they displayed at the Great Exhibition of 1851, with further designs in the 1860s, including the Four Continents. 

Photographs

 Date taken:  15/8/2007
Date logged: 

Photographed by:
Sarah Cocke

On Site Inspection

 Date:  6/7/2007

Inspected by:
D. Hulks

Sources and References

 'Opening of the new Town Hall, Ipswich' Ipswich Journal, 1 February 1868; http://querynytimes; http://www.debook.com/Bulbs/LB22calendar.htm, both accessed 13/1/2008; Identified by Bart Marichael of Marichael & Maerschalck; www.ironbridge.org.uk/our_attractions/museum accessed 30/11/2009; Barnes, R., John Bell. The Sculptor’s Life and Works, Kirstead, 1999, 35-50 and 61-64 

Database

 Date entered:  13/1/2008

Data inputter:
Richard Cocke