Last month, the world of English pottery lost a pioneer and a great lady when Griselda Lewis died on March 24, aged 96. Any one who collects pottery knows of Griselda. Her name is almost synonymous with Pratt ware, the field she and her husband John explored and explained. The very first books I bought on English pottery were Griselda's ground-breaking Pratt Ware and her A Collectors History of English Pottery. They had me hooked! More importantly though, Griselda was extraordinarily generous and patient, always ready to share her knowledge and mentor those of us starting out. She had no children, but many of us are, metaphorically at least, her offspring--and we remember her with love and gratitude.
On one of my visits to Griselda's home in Woodbridge, UK, I commented that I particularly admired this little figure.
On one of my visits to Griselda's home in Woodbridge, UK, I commented that I particularly admired this little figure.
"Well," said Griselda, "in that case you should have her." I protested...but Griselda was adamant. "She is far too grand for my little collection and she makes the others feel bad," she said. And with that, she flipped over the figure, which had Jonathon Horne's price label on it, and we sealed the deal.
As you can see, the figure is rather grand. The lady's shoes are gilded, as is the plume on her hat. How often do you see that on a figure? The figure can be confidently attributed to the Patriotic Group. Note the pinecone bocage, which you only see on figures that link to the Patriotic Group. I have found the base on other Patriotic Group figures too.....but I have never found a companion male figure attributable to the Patriotic Group. Come to think of it, I have never found another Patriotic Group female either.
On the other hand, some other pot bank--possibly the Enoch Wood pot bank--used the same figure molds, as you can see from the pair below, in the Willett Collection, Brighton and Hove Museums.
As you can see, the figure is rather grand. The lady's shoes are gilded, as is the plume on her hat. How often do you see that on a figure? The figure can be confidently attributed to the Patriotic Group. Note the pinecone bocage, which you only see on figures that link to the Patriotic Group. I have found the base on other Patriotic Group figures too.....but I have never found a companion male figure attributable to the Patriotic Group. Come to think of it, I have never found another Patriotic Group female either.
On the other hand, some other pot bank--possibly the Enoch Wood pot bank--used the same figure molds, as you can see from the pair below, in the Willett Collection, Brighton and Hove Museums.
The companion figure is a boy with a bird's nest. Now who would have thought that? In sorting the vast body of Staffordshire figures into chapters for Staffordshire Figures 1780-1840, I nearly went nuts. Very many figures of male gardeners are accompanied by a lady holding a flower.....so all the ladies holding flowers naturally seem to fit into the chapter with the gardeners. This worked very nicely...until I ran into the pair above: a lady holding a flower accompanied by a bird nester!!! In short, I did the best I could, and, if at times the arrangement puzzles you, there is a reason. Believe me, there truly is!
If you don't have Griselda Lewis's books, I suggest you add them to your bookshelf. Most can be bought for next to nothing now, and they are so worth having.
Here you see the 4th Edition of Griselda Lewis's A Collectors History of English Pottery. When I got this book, I had never seen a bocage figure--in fact, I hadn't seen a single early Staffordshire figure, with or without bocage. But when I saw the dandies on the dustjacket, I knew I wanted them...badly!
And here they are. Today, they are among my most prized possessions...bought at a small country auction in the UK (described simply as "old china") many years ago. Simply bone-crunchingly beautiful. Griselda told me that they had belonged to a friend of hers. He left them to a family member who it seems wanted a new sunroom instead. And because these dandies made such an impression on me, I put a pair of dandies on the dust jacket of my first book.
