Many of you write to me thinking I only like perfect figures. Not so, not so! I hate shoddily heavily restored figures, but very many figures I own have 'issues"--restoration, damage etc. My rule is that the yummier the figure, the more tolerant I am of "issues." The figures of Falstaff immediately below are, to my mind, particularly boring. I imagine it would take a perfect example with great enamels to make me want to own it. As you may know, the figures depicts Sir John Falstaff, the rotund cowardly knight in Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1, and Henry IV, Part 2, and in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
| 
|
Both these figures are impressed "WOOD & CALDWELL." The little leaves and flowers on the bases, and the ochre lines on the right hand base are typical Enoch Wood features. The silver luster on the shield of the right hand figure tells us that it was made after 1805, the year in which silver luster was introduced commercially. Because the figure is marked, we also know it was made before the dissolution of the Wood & Caldwell partnership in 1818.
Notice the difference in the hands that hold the sword. That raised hand is very vulnerable to damage and most hands and swords are restored. I suspect that the hilt originally had a guard present, as you can see on the right hand figure.
Notice the difference in the hands that hold the sword. That raised hand is very vulnerable to damage and most hands and swords are restored. I suspect that the hilt originally had a guard present, as you can see on the right hand figure.
This Enoch Wood/Wood & Caldwell figure of Falstaff is the most common earthenware depiction of Shakespeare's character. Derby produced a similar porcelain figure, circa 1770, and reissued it in the early 1800s. The Derby figure derives from either the mezzotint or the painting by James McArdell depicting the actor James Quinn as he looked in the role of Sir John Falstaff in 1746 and 1747--and you see it alongside. Clearly the earthenware figure then mimicked the Derby portrayal.
Much, much prettier than the Enoch Wood figure of Falstaff is the figure by yet another pot bank. I don't know the name of the pot bank, but you see two examples of that Falstaff below (formerly in the stock of Andrew Dando).
| 
|
To my mind, this is a really lovely figure and I would be happy to own one. Note that the figure is made with the sword arm curved inward to make it less vulnerable.
The rarest figure of Falstaff is the little one below. This time, Falstaff is seated.
The rarest figure of Falstaff is the little one below. This time, Falstaff is seated.
I think that the engraving alongside, Henry Bunbury's engraving of Falstaff at Justice Shallow's Mustering his Recruits, published in 1792, may have inspired the unusual small seated figure of Falstaff.
I await my the perfect knight, and one day I will find just the right figure of Falstaff for my collection.
I await my the perfect knight, and one day I will find just the right figure of Falstaff for my collection.
