Jonathan Harmer
Urn with rams' heads
About the sculpture
Versions of this relief are to be found on church monuments at Hailsham, Hurstmonceux and Mayfield, all in the southern English county of Sussex.
Read on
Jonathan Harmer (1762-1849) was the son of Jonathan Harmer Senior (d. 1800) who bequeathed to his two sons Jonathan Jr and John 'all such Portland and other stone, together with my working Tools and utensils belonging to the Trade of a Stone Mason and Bricklayer, and Land Surveying Books.' In 1796 Jonathan Jr. left for America, settling in New York, where he worked with a mason and painter, returning to Heathfield in May 1800. His younger brother John had previously settled in New York, but also later returned to Heathfield. Jonathan Harmer Junior was working at Heathfield, Sussex, from 1800 till about the middle of the 19th century. He made reliefs by pressing a local terracotta into moulds. The squeezes were then touched up by hand and baked in a wood oven. A complete set of Harmer's terracotta reliefs is in the possession of the Sussex Archaeological Society at Lewes. Apparently he used a village bread oven for baking his clay.
Victoria and Albert Museum
Particulars
- Accession number
- A.10-1919
