Woman as Old Age c. 1787

Enoch Wood created this small ceramic figure, titled *Woman as Old Age*, sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. At the time, Staffordshire potteries like Wood's were at the forefront of industrializing the production of ceramics, making them available to a wider range of consumers. This figure, with its detailed rendering of an aging woman, tells us a lot about social values in Georgian England. Her dress is simple and practical, and she carries a basket, suggesting that she is industrious. The walking stick shows that she is frail. The very existence of this object suggests the growing importance of old age as a social category. Objects like this can be explored through archives that tell us about the lives of ordinary people in the late 1700s. What were the lives of older women at this time? How were they represented in literature and popular culture? The historian can help us see how this small object opens a window onto a particular time and place.