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.

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.

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

I consistently warn collectors that there are no pleasant surprises when you buy sight-unseen at auction. The figure looks lovely in the picture, you imprint it like that in your mind's eye, and then (after much hassle getting a condition report,  bidding remotely, arranging shipping etc.)  it arrives on your doorstep--in most cases it is intact, but I can tell you of some horror stories. You unpack your new purchase and then you notice what the 'expert' at the auction house somehow failed to see. A new hand, an old glue join, crumbling restoration...the list goes on.  Let me quickly say that a handful of auction houses do give reliable condition reports, but the vast majority seemingly know not what they see.  So when you go to auction, in my experience, there are no pleasant surprises. For that reason, I am always happy to buy from a reputable dealer.

Recently, I had an auction experience that would make me eat my words were it not so atypical. I got a figure that was better than expected! Let me start by saying I have had the male musician on the right for quite a while. He is one of my favorite figures and is marked "Neale & Co." beneath. I love Neale enamels, and this fella carries a manbag of sorts with a gorgeous animal skin design painted on it.  My lucky buy was the tamborine playing lady on the left, also marked with the Neale mark. 
 

I bought the lady despite the condition report cautioning that something had been done to the arm because it was sticky. Instead, the arm is perfect. Yay!  The 'sticky' feel washed right off.

Tracking Neale & Co. figures is a bit of an obsession with me. I have noticed that the musician pairs are never spot-on matches. As you see with my pair, the mounds and tree stumps differ in color. These were the very early days of enamel painting (the early 1780s...awesomely early!) and perhaps such things didn't matter.  A pair is made when the clothing is painted in much the same manner and the edges of the hats match.

Below you see another Neale pair (he is unmarked, she is marked but with a restored hand and tambourine).  Again the mounds and tree stumps do not match, but the hat brims and the overall coloring of the clothing does. So again, in my book, these are indeed a true pair.

I bought the auction lot purely to complete my Neale pair. As happens when you buy things at auction, there was another figure in the lot. Just one, so I didn't have to ship a ton of unwanted trash home.  I was delighted when I opened the box to find this fabulous sportsman. The quality is superb, and the dog is a good chunky size--and both he and the man have great expressions. I really like this figure and have not seen it before. 

From behind, it is apparent that the figure was made without a bocage. Love that pony tail!

Don't let my recent luck embolden you. Remember, auctions are fraught with perils. The most expert dealers get burned and they have to eat their mistakes. 

Don't this teeny pair sit perfectly together? They read in companionable silence, as if undisturbed for two centuries. Truth be told, they have only recently been reunited. The boy has been in a US collection for a while. I knew of him but had never seen his companion. She came up recently on eBay, and, although she was quite battered, I just had to encourage the collector who owns the boy to buy her. The price was paltry--about GBP25 or $40.

So what was wrong with the girl figure? Admittedly, she had had a hard life. The figure (not the chair though) had broken off at the waist and across the arms and had been reglued. Similarly, the base had a crack and a missing chunk. Everything was stuck together with dark glue that oozed out of every join. Hardly a pretty sight, but in reality, aside from the missing piece on the base, everything was there. The book and hands were untouched and there were no missing parts. As awful as the figure looked, it required minimal restoration to bring it back to life. And, given that her companion was just sitting and waiting for her, the collector went ahead and committed.  He calls the little girl "a survivor', and I am pleased she has made it!