When we entertain, I decorate the table with Staffordshire figures. A small sheep at each place setting is an easy way to go, and, if I have the time, I create a scene on a large silver tray topped with moss (for grass of course). The scene on the tray depends on the occasion. Bridal showers are my favorite because out come the Gretna Green wedding, the New Marriage Act etc. Flowers in little florists' tube tuck into the spill holders....all this is meant to take attention away from the food because I hate cooking, but I want things to look pretty-pretty.
Our family doesn't celebrate Christmas, but last week I couldn't help wondering what I would decorate the table with if Christmas were my "thing." Top on the list would be a Madonna and Child. I hunted around, and by some miracle this gorgeous figure is on Aurea Carter site, just waiting for a home. I think this is one of the most beautifully modelled Staffordshire groups of all time.
Our family doesn't celebrate Christmas, but last week I couldn't help wondering what I would decorate the table with if Christmas were my "thing." Top on the list would be a Madonna and Child. I hunted around, and by some miracle this gorgeous figure is on Aurea Carter site, just waiting for a home. I think this is one of the most beautifully modelled Staffordshire groups of all time.
Examples of this groups are attributed to Enoch Wood or to Wood & Caldwell. The existence of marked WOOD & CALDWELL examples verifies the attribution. Below is a bronze glazed version marked thus, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.
This group of the Madonna and child is after a 15" terracotta by the baroque Flemish sculptor, Lucas Fayd'herbe that was at Gopsall Hall from 1773 to 1918 and is currently in the British Museum. The final work, a marble, is in the Rockoxhuis, Antwerp. The terracotta differs just slightly from the figures above. The difference is that the terracotta sits on a square base.
Some earthenware figures of this Madonna and Child are on square bases and they are so very like the terracotta that the molds were probably made directly from it--the size difference could be accounted for by shrinkage in firing. Below is an example on a square base, formerly in the stock of Andrew Dando.
Some earthenware figures of this Madonna and Child are on square bases and they are so very like the terracotta that the molds were probably made directly from it--the size difference could be accounted for by shrinkage in firing. Below is an example on a square base, formerly in the stock of Andrew Dando.
Note that groups on square bases have the Madonna seated on a chair with free-standing rear legs. All examples on square bases are also attributed to Enoch Wood/Wood & Caldwell. An enamel-painted group on a square base in the Potteries Museum is marked Wood & Caldwell.
Below is another example of this Madonna and Child on a square base. This group is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Play the slideshow and you will see both the front and back.
Below is another example of this Madonna and Child on a square base. This group is in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge. Play the slideshow and you will see both the front and back.
I suspect that Wood & Caldwell/Enoch Wood made the first examples of this group on a square base, with the Madonna sitting on a chair, just like the terracotta. But it didn't take long for them to wise up to the fact that a green mound was easier and probably prettier. So the Madonna was relocated. Both versions of the figure are simply lovely, they all date from around the same period, so choose whichever. And I hope it inspires you to decorate your table with Staffordshire figures next Christmas.
