Early Staffordshire pearlware and creamware pottery figures

Available for pre-order

5/30/2013

Volume 1 of my new four volume work is to be released on November 28, and it is now possible to pre-order at a discount from several suppliers. The first volume contains much information that is the key to unlocking the attributions in all four volumes.

Book Description from the Schiffer Catalog
Introducing a comprehensive, multi-volume work that catalogs the enormous range of enamel-painted figures made predominantly in the Staffordshire Potteries between 1780 and 1840, Volume 1 covers figures portraying people's pastimes and work. It includes over 900 brilliant color photos of pottery, as well as information about its makers and design sources and a guide to values. The attributes of all known makers' work are explored, as are those of groups of related figures whose makers remain anonymous. Some figures in this volume portray the pastimes of gardening, reading, and music, while others depict shepherds and shepherdesses, other farm workers, vendors, and people engaged in a host of trades and occupations. Many of these figures are hauntingly beautiful and have long been hidden from the public eye. Fashioned in an era before photography, they give us rare glimpses of a world that has vanished. To hold one is to touch the past.

UK Collectors
I believe that if you order from the US Amazon site, shipping to the UK is but a few dollars. Please add your experience as a comment or email me.

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"Sherratt" Animals

5/28/2013

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This beautiful bull appeared briefly on Barbara Gair's web site recently, before wandering off to greener pastures. Note that this is most definitely a bull rather than a cow, although bovines of this scale are much more commonly of the female sex. At under 6 inches, this comfortably compact little figure is far from common. Made by the "Sherratt" pot bank, it has all the charm that typically oozes from "Sherratt" figures. The bocage fronds (each frond has three oak leaves) and flower combination are typical of "Sherratt." Also, "Sherratt" routinely used bases of this form for animals, and he liked to place three flowers on the base, as you see here. The colors of pink, orange, and blue occur most commonly on "Sherratt" flowers. I appreciate the thought that went into painting the flower colors on the base in the same sequence as the flower colors on the bocage. Details like this connect us to a thought process of two centuries ago.

The cow alongside is the companion model to the little bull. The base is of the same form but it has not been adorned with flowers in the same way. The bocage fronds are again of the triple oak leaf variety, but the flowers are the mayflowers that "Sherratt" more commonly used with these
bocage fronds.

Note that the bocage trunk is painted in splotchy browns. You see this quite often on only "Sherratt" figures.

Alongside, we have a "Sherratt" sheep. It has the same base and bocage as the little bull. "Sherratt made assorted animals on this base, but the decoration rather than the form is what identifies the base as "Sherratt."

The pair of sheep alongside has bases of the same form....but they have the SALT mark on the reverse. So again, it is definitely the decoration rather than the form that identifies the base as "Sherratt".
(Full disclosure: there are tiny differences in the form of the "Sherratt" and Salt bases, even though at first and even second glance they seem the same.)

"Sherratt" used the same base for recumbent sheep

And he used the same base for deer, of course.

The "Sherratt" pot bank also used other bases. The little ram below stands on quite a different base, but it too can be attributed to "Sherratt".

In this case, the secret to the attribution lies in the distinctive floral sprigs on the base. Sprigs of this form are exclusive to "Sherratt." They are akin to signatures. Of course, the bocage fronds and flower are consistent with a "Sherratt" attribution.

Note that this little ram is painted in a pale turquoise rather than green. "Sherratt" used a turquoise palette on occasion. The dandies figure group on the dust jacket of my book is in the turquoise palette too--yes, admittedly a far more vibrant turquoise.

The "Sherratt" pot bank produced some of my favorite figures, and it operated over an extended period of time. I think it probably produced more figures than any other pot bank of its time, but, despite this, we know next to nothing about it. I have stood in Hot Lane, Burslem, the boring little road that was once the location of Obadiah Sherratt's great manufactory, and I received not a vibe. All that once happened there lies buried beneath the modern paved roads of Stoke. Yet the figures themselves help piece together their past, and we can learn an enormous amount from looking at them. My photo archive has been the source of lots of my knowledge, and with the publication of my next books, we will all have access to much of it. I am looking forward to learning what you deduce as you look at the pictures and at the figures in your collection.

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The Odd Couple: HALL

5/21/2013

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I have an odd couple in my collection. These two figures were sitting at opposite ends of my home...and then I looked again and thought why not??

As you see, both figures have the same bases, bocage leaves. and flowers. It is no coincidence that they look so compatible. Both were made by Samuel Hall, and have the "HALL" mark impressed on the reverse. As I have said before, Hall really liked blue and red bocage flowers with large centers.

Hall figures have their charm, but I have yet to see a drop-dead gorgeous example. They are definitely desirable, but nothing to leave you weak at the knees. Hall was a sloppy potter most of the time, and I am fascinated by the quirkiness of his work. Another bocage form that Hall used frequently comprises oak leaves and acorns, as on the figure below.

This figure is impressed BOY AND DOG and it also has the HALL mark impressed on the reverse. Other potters also used this same oak-leaves-with-acorns bocage form, but Hall always painted his acorns red. (In contrast, Enoch Wood preferred yellow-with-brown acorns!) The weird thing about this Hall bocage is that Hall clearly did not care too much about the front. As you see, the leaves are not very well modeled. The front is a blurry mess, but the back is another story.

When it came to the back, Hall went more than the extra mile. He deliberately tooled a very prominent central vein onto each leaf. I see this again and again on Hall bocages of this form. It is almost as if extra work went into tooling the leaf after it came out the mold. A little tidying up at the back, but forget about the front?

The details that you notice when you photograph figures boggle the mind. As I photographed these, I noted that both the birds nest boy and the boy with dog tilted backwards almost precariously. Another sloppy Hall detail that I may find repeated? We shall see.

Hall did not confine his skills to just these bocage forms. Below are two dandy ladies Hall made. The lady in the yellow dress is marked HALL. Her bocage leaves and flowers are quite generic. Anyone might have made them. The lady on the right is unmarked, but she has that oak-leaves-and-acorns bocage that is associated with Hall.

A caveat here: John Dale made a dandy lady from very similar molds--so be cautious in attributing an unmarked example.

Courtesy the Goodacre Collection

Alongside is the dandy lady that Hall's competitor John Dale made. The bocage flowers (or what's left of them) are specific to Dale.
Comparing the Dale lady to the Hall lady, shows tiny differences in the mold.

The Dale handbag is always plumper
The Dale figure stands almost flat on her feet, whereas the Hall lady definitely stands on tip-toes.

Overall, the Dale figure is more carefully and crisply made. It lacks that "molten" look, if you know what I mean.

Of course, both Hall and Dale made dandy gentlemen to accompany their ladies, and again there are small differences in the molds that tell them apart.

Remember that Hall figures can exhibit other distinctive features, including a star-shaped flower discussed in the Dec 12, 2012 blog posting. A concise summary of everything about Hall (and every other maker) will be in the first volume of my new book.

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Pearlware Puzzle

5/21/2013

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I am puzzled by this little dog.

His owner thinks he is English pearlware, and so do I. If you tip the dog over, the bottom edge of the base and the interior are unglazed, so apparently the dog has lost its base. Originally, it had either a small base or it was part of a larger figure group, perched atop a grassy mound perhaps. The problem is that I have never before seen a dog of this form. Also, the owner cleverly notes the resemblance to this dog.

This weird little pup was salvaged from the cargo of the Diana, which wrecked in the Malacca Straits in 1817, complete with a load of Chinese export wares.

Alongside is another Diana dog. This one looks even less like our collector's pearlware pooch. There are definite differences in the mold--most notably the shape of the face--and, of course, the Diana dog is not decorated in pretty enamels.

Why the resemblance? We may never know. But it would be lovely to connect the pearlware dog to the Potteries. So if you have seen another like him, please let me know.

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Pearlware Palace

5/14/2013

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Have you seen this extraordinary structure in the stock of Martyn Edgell? A pearlware palace?....well, maybe not a palace, but certainly a castle.

The castle is impressively big and the pictures just don't do it justice. Is it a spill holder? I think not, but perhaps those three large vases were intended to hold flowers. Or maybe it was intended to be part of a military re-enactment that included tin soldiers. Would that not have been quite a site? On the other hand, it may have been purely decorative. I have seen another castle just like this, in an important private collection. It stands on the mantle with a lion and unicorn (Walton, with bocages) to either side, and it looks fabulous. Note the scale. At almost 14" across by 12 high, it has quite a presence.

I know of only one other example of a castle like this. The example alongside is in the Art Institute of Chicago, so it is definitely Not For Sale. I was thrilled to find it, as it brings the grand total of castles of this form to three.

The castle has a cousin! I found it within the pages of the Earle Collection.

As you see, this time there is a spire atop the keep, which has been modified to include a clock. The result is a church. Very clever. I have no idea where this church is now--the Earle Collection has long since been scattered--but I do hope that spire has survived. Meanwhile, if you have the perfect spot in your home for Martyn's castle, know that you are unlikely to ever see another.

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John Jervis, Lord St. Vincent

5/7/2013

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I used to think of busts as rather boring things, but oh have I learned the error of my ways! When preparing my forthcoming volumes, I decided to add a chapter on busts....but only if I could find a satisfactory selection of pictures. Thanks to dealers, collectors, and museums, I got it done, and along the way, I learned that each bust has an amazing tale to tell.

Recently John Howard sold this splendid bust of John Jervis (1735-1823), also known as Lord St. Vincent.

My English history is about average, so it took some research to learn exactly why Jervis was so important. A long bio will make your eyes glaze over, so here are some salient factoids:

Jervis was born in Meaford, on the outskirts of the Staffordshire Potteries. (Yay! I like him already.)
His dad wanted him to follow in his footsteps and be a barrister, but young John ran off to join the navy at the age of 15. (Parenting is so unrewarding)
In 1782, while patrolling the English Channel during the American Revolutionary War (remember that the French, of course, sided with the Americans against Britain), Jervis hit the jackpot: he captured a seventy-four gun French ship, the Pegase, and for simply doing his job he was knighted. To top it, Jervis also got a hunk of "prize money," as was common in those days.
In 1795 (the time of the French Revolutionary War), Jervis was given command of the Mediterranean Fleet. His victory on February 14, 1797, against Spain (allied with France) at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent earned him rich prize money, and the titles Baron Jervis and Earl of St. Vincent. (so the tradition of hefty CEO pay is not a modern invention).
Young Captain Horatio Nelson was Jervis's protege. He served under Jervis at the Battle of Cape St. Vincent, and he too rose in rank, wealth, and prestige on the heels of Jervis's victory. (This prize money thing really burst my bubble. I always thought that our heroes were fighting purely for love of country. Alas, it was all about money.)

More importantly, Jervis was a brilliant military strategist, and he is remembered for transforming the Mediterranean fleet into a well disciplined and well equipped naval force. His victories were not luck. Rather, they were the end product of a lot of hard work.

So take a moment to look at the bust of Jervis again. Lovely, is it not? It is also a rather important hunk of pot because it bears the impressed mark HERCULANEUM beneath.

The Herculaneum Pottery in Liverpool is known for making small, well-modeled busts in various bodies, including stoneware, lead glazed earthenware, porcelain, and basalt. The bust resembles Francis Cotes’s portrait of Jervis, which may have assisted with its design. It has been suggested that Pierre Stephan modeled this bust. (Hyland, Herculaneum Pottery, 77).