Myrna Schkolne: Early Staffordshire Figures

This pearlware Staffordshire figure titled Friendship sold on EBay a while ago, after being advertised thus: "The ornate scroll work at the front and sides of the grass is typical of Obadiah Sherratt." The sole basis for the attribution was the blue scroll work on the base.. What do you think? Was the attribution correct or wasn't it?

Well, the figure is definitely not necessarily by Obadiah Sherratt because there is no scientific basis for attributing anything to him. But in broader terms, the figure does not fall into that group of figures that we dub"Sherratt style" (see the postings for Obadiah Sherratt? in late May and early June.)  Many pearlware figures made in the Staffordshire Potteries in the early decades of the nineteenth century were adorned with blue scroll work.....because it was pretty, of course! John Walton, who potted from around 1810-1830, used particularly lavish blue scrolls on some of his bases, and he marked many of his figures. But no-one had the monopoly on blue scrolls. Other, unknown potters used them too. Two further points:

1. I cannot think of a single figure in the Sherratt style that uses the typical blue-scroll base found on other earthenware figures of the period. The only possible exception could be Who Shall Ware the Breches. It uses scrolling of a sort on its raised claw feet. However, its linkage to the Sherratt family is tentative at best.
2. I cannot think of a single case where the titling on Sherratt style figure is in cursive, lower case letters. Block capitals are the norm.

And while we are at it, there is no version of Friendship in the Sherratt style --so yet another reason why the figure pictured above was described incorrectly.