Do you know what St. Monday is? It was the name workers gave Mondays in the early 1800s. They declared Monday a public holiday of sorts, purely to recover from the binge drinking that was commonplace on Sundays. The concept of a weekend as we know it had not yet been established, and the conventional work week was Monday to Saturday. Sunday was meant for church, but many of the lower classes instead used it to drown their sorrow profusely. The result was that Monday was needed to recover--and so workers jokingly declared it a holiday. "Keeping St. Monday" meant observing Monday as a holiday.
In the Potteries, workers were paid for their output by the piece, so if they missed Monday they could make it up by working extra hard Tuesday through Saturday. Of course, all this made scheduling work efficiently almost impossible, but the concept of the conveyor belt had yet to be invented. I imagine that those who staggered to work in the Potteries on Mondays did a lot of funny things, and that may account for the oddities we see--and love--in our Staffordshire figures.
Do you notice something wonderfully weird about this pair of dandies at madelena.com?
In the Potteries, workers were paid for their output by the piece, so if they missed Monday they could make it up by working extra hard Tuesday through Saturday. Of course, all this made scheduling work efficiently almost impossible, but the concept of the conveyor belt had yet to be invented. I imagine that those who staggered to work in the Potteries on Mondays did a lot of funny things, and that may account for the oddities we see--and love--in our Staffordshire figures.
Do you notice something wonderfully weird about this pair of dandies at madelena.com?
I am sure I have you stumped, so look at their necks. The dandizette is wearing a high starched collar and cravat, just like her dandy companion. I have not seen another pair of dandies like this, and clearly something went wrong in the making of the molds. But how wonderful to see it. And what a lovely pair of dandies...modeled on a Monday??
What do these two figures have in common?
What do these two figures have in common?
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If you answer that both figures are attributable to "Sherratt" you are correct and way ahead of the game for today's blog posting. Instead, I am looking for something simpler. Both figures have moustaches. These figures normally occur without moustaches, but here their painter decided to have some fun.
The painter took the joke one step further. He also painted double eye brows on the man with a sword. This I have not seen before!
Perhaps the double eyebrows happened on a Monday. We will never know. But somehow I am convinced that the misplaced eyelashes on this Walton cherub were a Monday event!
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The eyelashes are very definitely ABOVE the eyebrows! With thanks to the awesome collector who has shared this (and so much else) with me.
Last but by no means least, this splendid twosome must be gawked at for no other reason than they are drop dead gorgeous. These were definitely NOT made on a Monday. I have seen then in the flesh and they are a very true pair. I know of no other example of a pair, so enjoy the sighting while it lasts. Available for purchase from Nick Burton.
Last but by no means least, this splendid twosome must be gawked at for no other reason than they are drop dead gorgeous. These were definitely NOT made on a Monday. I have seen then in the flesh and they are a very true pair. I know of no other example of a pair, so enjoy the sighting while it lasts. Available for purchase from Nick Burton.
