Collections Online
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Advanced Search
Figure group
Figure group 'The New Marriage Act, pearlware, modelled in the form of a chancel of a church with stepped base forming the altar steps and an alcove behind moulded with an eight-light window, in the alcove a draped table forming the altar with around it four figures representing the parson, the clerk and the couple to be married, to one side of the alcove wall ornaments in the form of a scrolling banner and round panel impressed with the inscription "THE NEW MARRIAGE ACT / JOHN / FRILL AND / ANN BOKE / AGED 21 THAT IS RIGHT / SAYS THE PARSON / AMEN SAYS / THE CLERK"; the piece brightly painted in polychrome enamels featuring a red cloth to the table, a red arch to the alcove, brown walls, realistically painted figures, and scrolling red and blue lines to the altar steps.
This figure group is called 'The New Marriage Act'. It refers to an act of 1823 that made it illegal for a clergyman to perform a clandestine marriage and restricted the number of reasons for which marriages could be annulled.