The lady pictured below is known to me from only this one example. She is a lovely figure with an important and rare mark beneath: LEEDS POTTERY. Note the traces of gilding remaining on her dress. This really was/is a quality figure.
Here you see the mark impressed clearly in the pearlware body. While we associate the Leeds Pottery with creamware, it made pearlware too, and the blue-tinged glaze leaves little doubt that this is indeed a pearlware figure!
The Leeds Pottery in Yorkshire was built in around 1770, and in 1820 the manufactory closed. It is better known for its wares than its figures, but a range of figures was made. Subjects suggest that Leeds figures date from the eighteenth century.
No Leeds figures with bocages are recorded, but in some instances leaves are placed on the support behind the figure, as you see here.
When I see a figure, my brain makes connections between it and other similar figures....alas, too often this process doesn't happen as immediately as I might wish! In this case, the Leeds lady brought to mind a figure of a lady in the Willett Collection, Brighton and Hove Museums. You see her below, to the right of the Leeds lady. The WIllett lady is unmarked and, although there is great similarity in style and clothing, that's about all I can say. And yes, the Leeds lady has a restored hand and the Willett lady too has suffered the loss of her hand. I have long thought the Willett lady to be an eighteenth century figure (because of the enamel colors and the style of dress), and I feel the same way about the Leeds lady.
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The facial features on most Leeds figure are worth noting. The figures, on the whole, have a very similar appearance, as if they are all from the same family. If you look at our Leeds lady, you could describe her as having a recessed chin, or pinched features. If you were gentler, you might describe her as having a heart-shaped face. You see the same facial features on the figure of Diana below, in The Potteries Museum (she has a gilded headband and gilded crescent moon atop her head. Nice touch!) Diana is not marked, but I am reasonably certain she comes from Leeds.
Looking at the three faces in this blog post again, it is easy to see the resemblance between the two Leeds faces (to the left and center) versus the lone 'other' face on the right.
Probably one modeler made figures for Leeds over an extended time period, leaving his own personal impression of feminine beauty with us forever!
A note of caution:
Between 1890 and 1957, J. W. & G. W. Senior made figures
from the old Leeds molds. These too can bear the impressed “LEEDS
POTTERY” mark, but their modeling and coloring betray their later
date of manufacture.
A note of hope:
Andrew Dando's Exhibition is this weekend. Fingers crossed that it leaves lots of collectors very satisfied. Details are on the NEWS tab on this site.
Update.
Thanks to my erudite friend Bob for this info about the Leeds lady:
There is another example shown in Towner’s English Cream-Coloured Earthenware, pl 56. Described as a figure from a pair of falconers, pearlware, enameled in yellow, dark red, turquoise, brown and black. The stump to the right as shown curves to the right rather than going up. She also appears in his later book, Creamware. It’s in the BM. The earlier book has an undecorated pearlware figure of a male falconer.
A note of caution:
Between 1890 and 1957, J. W. & G. W. Senior made figures
from the old Leeds molds. These too can bear the impressed “LEEDS
POTTERY” mark, but their modeling and coloring betray their later
date of manufacture.
A note of hope:
Andrew Dando's Exhibition is this weekend. Fingers crossed that it leaves lots of collectors very satisfied. Details are on the NEWS tab on this site.
Update.
Thanks to my erudite friend Bob for this info about the Leeds lady:
There is another example shown in Towner’s English Cream-Coloured Earthenware, pl 56. Described as a figure from a pair of falconers, pearlware, enameled in yellow, dark red, turquoise, brown and black. The stump to the right as shown curves to the right rather than going up. She also appears in his later book, Creamware. It’s in the BM. The earlier book has an undecorated pearlware figure of a male falconer.
Here is the British Museum figure that Bob mentions. You can see her on th Museum site at http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=73187&partId=1&place=38401&plaA=38401-2-11&page=1
