Early Staffordshire pearlware and creamware pottery figures

Dandies: the dumpy and the divine.

8/26/2013

I have been working with several collections recently, and this has given me the opportunity to see some splendid dandies. Who does not like dandies? I don't think any collection can ever have too many. The little couple below--I call them "dumpy dandies"--is quite rare. It measures all of 4.5" in height, and the somber expressions and stumpy bodies are adorable. This couple lacks that air of superior indifference that fashionable dandies strove to exude--but they tried to dress the part anyway.

As you see, the back is a bit unusual. I wish I had photographed the interior for you. The glaze is a heavy blue, and in parts it did not coat the interior. Very pretty if you are into bases, and I, of course, am!

I also photographed this spiffy pair. They can be attributed to the Patriotic Group (see Vol. 1 of my new book this fall for details....and Vol. 3 has a chapter on just Dandies.) If you look carefully, you can see that the couple on the right is just a bit bigger, a tad chunkier. Clearly, this is a pair, but I wondered if they perhaps might have been fired at different times or in different places in the kiln, resulting in varying shrinkage rates in firing.

Then I noticed the same discrepancy in the pairs below. Again, the couple where the lady has the flat hat is slightly bigger. These pairs, however, were made by the "Sherratt" pot bank. Despite the close similarity to the Patriotic Group dandies above, the molds are actually different. I wish I could explain...but it is what it is.

Below you see the "Sherratt" dandies we have just looked at, but now they flank another pair from the same molds and with bocages. Yes, these are all "Sherratt." A wonderful sight, is it not?

And to bring us full circle, below are the dumpy dandies that started this post, now standing between the "Sherratt" pair.

Sometimes words fail me, but the pictures say it all.

2 Comments

J-P

8/29/2013 05:15:27 am

Dear Myrna,
I really love the last picture, where you can look at the two big Sherratt couples, and, staying between them, the little clumsy one from the Patriotic Group...
This being said, I was wondering if the idea of the sculptors of the big dandies' couples wasn't a little humorous.
When one looks at them, something seems obvious : there are four couples of dandies, going two by two, made by different ceramists, and yet presenting the same feature (two of them being bigger than the two others) . In the two Sherratt couples, the bigger ones wear relatively flatter hats than the ones that are less big. Was this meant as a joke about the littlest protagonists' vanity? You know, something like : they want to keep up with the others by trying to look bigger than they really are...?
Keep doing your excellent job!
Kind regards
Jean-Paul

Myrna

8/29/2013 10:14:47 am

Jean-Paul,
Artists of all sorts like to poke fun at aspiring dandies, and I am sure that the Staffordshire potters followed suit. Dandies to me always seem so very individual--no two are ever alike. This, of course, allows collectors to keep adding and adding! About 12 years ago, two old ladies (deceased) sold their large collection of Staffordshire at an auction that will always be remembered by collectors. Among the treasures that Miss Reed and Miss Fitt left, were very many dandies. A picture in the auction catalog shows about 27 pairs lined up as if they were standing in a queue. Quite unforgettable.