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A Prince who wanted to be an Admiral.

5/10/2011

11 Comments

 
This time John Howard almost made me a liar. In my last blog posting, I noted that there was not much I had not seen….so John promptly added to his stock a figure I haven't encountered. The WOW addition to stock is a pair of military figures.   

Picture
Pair of Staffordshire pearlware figures in the stock of John Howard. Right figure marked Stephan P. Circa 1795.
Picture
"Duke of Wellington." Potteries Museum, Hanley, UK.



Firstly, John's figure on the left. This, I believe, portrays the Duke of Wellington.  I have encountered a few other examples over time. Their owners and I have speculated on the subject’s identity, but this example titled Duke of Wellington in the Potteries Museum settled that debate. You can read about it here.  


Oddly enough, there is an example of this figure in the Victoria and Albert Museum collection attributed to the porcelain modeler Pierre Stephan.  I expect it is also marked thus and have emailed the museum to enquire. Stay tuned for my update. This will help us attribute John's figure with certainty to Stephan.

Picture
Courtesy the National Portrait Gallery.
But what about the other figure, the figure in the red coat, the figure that almost made me a liar? This figure I have NOT seen before.  The figure has very Hanoverian facial features, and that's because he is a member of the royal family. He is Prince William (1765-1837) and he became King William IV in 1830.  The figure is after a portrait of Prince William, seen here. Painted by Sir Martin Archer Shee, the portrait hangs in the National Portrait Gallery. But Prince William never led forces to any great victory. In his youth, he served in New York at the tail end of the American War of Independence (1775-1783). Thereafter he served under Nelson in the West Indes. In 1789, he was created Duke of Clarence and ceased active service.  


Picture
John’s figure of Prince William is probably unique, but it is special in another way:it does bear the mark of Pierre Stephan, the famed Derby modeler. Yes, the name of a porcelain artiste on a piece of Staffordshire is a first in my experience.

Well, portraits are intended to flatter, so William’s portrait portrays him as the Conquering Hero. The flag behind William in the portrait is, I believe, the flag that flew over Britain’s American colonies.  But the flag behind the earthenware figure is the first American flag, called the Grand Union flag. This flag had 13 red and white stripes…and I am sure the painter tried to get as many of those as he could onto the earthenware flag. 

Let's get back to the Derby modeler Pierre Stephan.  In his book Derby Porcelain Figures 1750-1848 (pp 405. 406, 460), Peter Bradshaw notes that the very last soft-paste models were created at Derby between 1792 and 1810 and among them were four figures portraying four renowned admirals: Admiral Hood, Admiral Duncan, Lord Rodney, and John Drinkwater.  These four models are stylistically similar to the Derby figure of Admiral Lord Howe, an example of which occurs marked P. Stephan.  Pierre Stephan freelanced from about 1773 until 1798, working for Wedgwood and others. Bradshaw concludes that “The evidence suggests that the five portrait Derby figures were all created by Stephan between about 1794 and 1798.”

At this point, it seems reasonable to conclude that both John's Staffordshire pottery figures were also modeled by Pierre Stephan between 1794 and 1798. And in addition to the distinguished admirals he modeled in porcelain, Stephan modeled an earthenware figure of a prince who never became an admiral: Prince William Duke of Clarence.

Disclaimer: My knowledge of American history is scant, and I know even less about flags, so shout if I need to correct anything. Any porcelain collectors who can shed light, please comment.

 

11 Comments
Penny Stephan
9/11/2011 11:12:04 pm

Hello there! Stumbles across your blog whilst trying to research my ancestor, the elusive Pierre! Would love to hear back from you, with any information you may have to help me track him down! haha thanks in advance, Penny.

Reply
Charlotte Borley
11/21/2012 04:50:32 am

Hi Penny,
My great grandmother was called Kate Stephan and her grandfather (if I've got the dates right!) was Pierre Stephan. How are you related to him?
Kind regards
Charlotte Borley

Reply
Sue Shanahan
6/15/2014 04:00:31 am

Hi fellow Stephan ancestors.

My mum's family are decedents of Pierre Stephan and we have extensively researched the infamous Pierre for many years. However, we have not yet established his country of birth as there are so many conflicting ideas of where he came from.
We have established his journey through the UK from about 1760 up to his later years where he settled in Shropshire working at the Coalport china works.
I would love to hear from other Stephan ancestors and perhaps share information researched.

Reply
Ed Stephan
7/18/2014 05:27:28 am

Hi Sue,

I would like to collaborate on the hunt for Pierre.

Reply
Sue Shanahan
7/19/2014 05:07:39 am

Hi Ed

I would be happy to share the information I have with you regarding the Stephans. Do you have any information of your side of the family?
My family are descendants of Charles Stephan believed to be the son of Pierre.
Let me have your email address and I will send you my family tree.
Regards
Sue

Sue Shanahan link
7/19/2014 05:09:44 am

Hi Ed
I would be happy to share the information I have with you regarding the Stephans. Do you have any information of your side of the family?
My family are descendants of Charles Stephan believed to be the son of Pierre.
Let me have your email address and I will send you my family tree.
Regards
Sue

Sue link
7/19/2014 05:10:05 am

Hi Ed
I would be happy to share the information I have with you regarding the Stephans. Do you have any information of your side of the family?
My family are descendants of Charles Stephan believed to be the son of Pierre.
Let me have your email address and I will send you my family tree.
Regards
Sue

Sue link
7/19/2014 05:10:21 am

Hi Ed
I would be happy to share the information I have with you regarding the Stephans. Do you have any information of your side of the family?
My family are descendants of Charles Stephan believed to be the son of Pierre.
Let me have your email address and I will send you my family tree.
Regards
Sue

Eva Stephan Wovchko
11/6/2015 11:17:36 pm

Reading up on John Howard who has some of Pierre's work. Very fascinating to me. I would love if you could send me your research as I do not have much info so far back. I believe Pierre was a Huguenot from France. Anyway, my grandparents were Peter and Eva Matthews Stephan from Trenton. Thank you in advance four any response. Eva from Pittsburgh

Reply
Myrna
11/7/2015 05:03:47 pm

Hi Eva,
I am sorry but I know little about Pierre other than the figures illustrated in Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, volume 2. Best wishes,
Myrna

Reply
Chasing Suns link
4/30/2021 06:11:10 am

This was lovely thanks for writing this

Reply



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